I have always thought the separation of
church and state was an excellent idea. This gives the church freedom
to promote the kingdom of God without interference. Part of this
means that pastors may not promote a candidate, or a church may not
promote a candidate, and could lose its tax exempt status if it does
so.
But just how much of a crisis is this,
or how big of an issue is this?
I have heard churches complaining about
it, and pastors complaining about it, but apparently anyone actually
getting in trouble is pretty rare.
There is only one documented case of a
church actually losing its tax exempt status. That was in the early
90s when a church took out an ad in a newspaper warning people to not
vote for Bill Clinton. That was way past using the pulpit. Even then,
they were told they could reapply as long as they didn't do that
anymore.
They were not even required to pay any
taxes. The only actual “penalty” was that those people who had
made donations were not allowed to claim those donations on their
taxes for that year.
So it is not like the IRS is spying on
churches trying to defrock them of tax exempt status.
Still, it could set a precedent and
embolden some pastors to start using their pulpit for political
purposes.
The IRS was already not paying
attention, and will be paying even less attention now, so its real
likely a church can start getting away with more politics.
The president's executive order is
allegedly for religious freedom, but it is not about that at all. It
is largely a meaningless gesture that could inspire churches to get
more political.
The act tells the IRS to be selective –
or use their own discretion, when investigating cases where a church
may be in danger of losing its tax exempt status. It does not change
the law, but does give the enforcement agency a ton of leeway as to
enforcement.
This means basically, if you like the
same candidates that the IRS likes, you can get away with violating
the law because they wont be enforcing it. It could mean that if you
like candidates they don't like, you might get a lot more
investigation than you would otherwise.
If the IRS ever did start
investigating, or if they were told to by the president, they might
just start pulling exempt status from those that don't agree with his
policies.
I am still against churches getting
involved in politics. The church does not need politics to accomplish
the purposes of God.
Will the church start using the worldly
system and worldly ways to accomplish heavenly tasks?
