Presidential order lightens already lax scrutiny on churches involved in politics

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?