Letters to the Editor
IRS Interferes With Pastors’ Speech
The Patriot Pastor (April 4 edition) faces a terrible enemy: the Internal Revenue Service. Its policies for churches and religious organizations are an egregious violation of the First Amendment. Because of their tax-exempt status, churches are now controlled by the IRS in ways which are totally contrary to the intent of our Founders. A religious leader may not preach from the pulpit on political issues nor offer his or her views or guidance in church bulletins and paid advertisements. Likewise, that leader may not endorse or criticize a candidate while acting in an official capacity. Specifically, the IRS says in its Publication 1771 that churches and religious groups are “absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”
This is a profound violation of the principles of free speech, freedom of religion, and the obligation that our Founders saw for religious leaders to lead — that is, to speak out forcefully on moral and spiritual aspects of political issues and politicians, and especially from the pulpit. The IRS is censoring religious speech; that is unconstitutional. It is also acting as attack dog for the political establishment; that is unconscionable. It is terrorizing religious free speech.
Since the 1960s, when such legislation was first enacted, our way of life has been stood on its head. It is now assumed by the IRS that a church’s wealth is the government’s, and out of the goodness of Congress’ heart, as interpreted by the IRS, churches are allowed to keep it. But they’d better watch their step in who or what they criticize, or they’ll get their tax-exempt status yanked, followed by penalties and fines. Moral leadership has been muted and muffled by Congress and the IRS. It doesn’t matter whether the leadership is liberal or conservative, Left or Right; the important thing is that its God-given right to free speech and its God-given obligation to lead its flock in temporal matters, including politics, is now handcuffed. They’re golden handcuffs, but they work just as well as iron ones. And the moral decline of America continues because of it.
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