IRS Surrenders: Time For Churches to Get “Political”

   

By Matt Barber / 6 November 2012 / 4 Comments

The jig is up. The news is out. Pastors across America have called the left’s bluff. The empty words “separation of church and state” – a phrase found nowhere in the U.S. Constitution – have lost their sting.

Yes, “separation” still applies, but only insofar as it requires the state to remain separate from the church. That is to say, that government not interfere with the free exercise of either speech or religion.

For decades, hard-left anti-theist groups like the ACLU, People for the American Way (PFAW) and Barry Lynn’s Americans United (AU) have employed a cynical disinformation scheme intended to intimidate clergy into silence on issues of morality, culture and Christian civic involvement – issues that are not political so much as they have been politicized, issues that are inherently “religious.”

AU, for instance, recently sent 60,000 letters to churches across the nation warning pastors, priests and rabbis that “If the IRS determines that your house of worship has engaged in unlawful intervention, it can revoke the institution’s tax-exempt status.”

That’s a lie.

Despite hundreds of thousands of threatening letters sent by these liberal outfits (and as many complaints filed with the IRS) not a single church has ever lost tax-exemption for socio-political activity – zip, zero, nada. Not even for endorsing candidates from the pulpit. The left has cried wolf far too many times. No one will come running. Especially not the IRS.

That’s because churches, unlike other nonprofit organizations, don’t need a letter of tax exemption from the Internal Revenue Service. Churches are constitutionally tax-exempt simply by virtue of existence. It’s automatic. The only way the IRS could revoke a church’s tax-exempt status would be to disband the church, which, obviously, the government has no authority to do. It’s simple. Pastors, if you get a letter from the ACLU, PFAW or AU, I suggest a singular use for it: bird-cage liner.

Keeping all this in mind, something I’ve long expected has finally occurred. A little over a week ago, the IRS ran up the white flag. That bureaucratic bully we all love to hate announced that, for the indefinite future, it is “holding any potential church audits in abeyance,” for violating its arbitrary “no politicking” rule.

This rule stems from the blatantly unconstitutional “Johnson Amendment,” which, in 1954, was introduced by then-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson. At the time, Johnson was facing opposition from Christians and anti-Communists. He pushed the rule through in an effort to muzzle them.

Unfortunately, his scheme has achieved much success. That is, until now. I suspect the realization that it lacks constitutional authority to yank any church’s tax exemption for “politicking” has prompted the IRS to finally lay down its arms.

But there’s a back story. Since 2008, the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has spearheaded a First Amendment exercise called “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.” Since then, thousands of pastors across America have boldly exercised their guaranteed constitutional rights by addressing “political” issues from the pulpit. This has included directly endorsing candidates. These pastors have dared the IRS to come after them and, not surprisingly, the IRS has balked.

Essentially, the goal was twofold. First, it was hoped that if the IRS tried, somehow, to revoke a church’s tax-exempt status, that church could sue and, once and for all, have the Johnson Amendment ruled unconstitutional.

The second possibility was that, rather than having the “no politicking” rule completely thrown out, the IRS would choose, instead, the path of least resistance – that it would simply do nothing. It has chosen door No. 2. Not only has the IRS done nothing, it has, at least for now, completely thrown in the towel.

The next step is to repeal the toothless Johnson Amendment. This will do away with any residual confusion. A Republican-led Congress and a President Romney could do just that.

Indeed, the staggering gravity of Tuesday’s election has weighed heavily on the hearts of spiritual leaders who, hitherto, have remained completely apolitical. Obama’s unprecedented attacks on life, freedom, faith and family have prompted the Rev. Billy Graham, for instance, to run full-page advertisements in newspapers across the country, urging voters to choose candidates who support biblical values of life, natural marriage, and religious liberty.

People are taking notice.

“This is unprecedented for the world’s best-known evangelist,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman ofLiberty Counsel. “Billy Graham has always steered clear of politics. In reality, Billy Graham has merely raised his prophetic voice like any preacher should when biblical and moral values are placed in jeopardy by politicians.”


John MacArthur, a well-known pastor and author who, over the years, has spoken out against Christian political advocacy, has also had a dramatic change of heart. “I was amazed that one of the historic parties in the U.S. adopted the sins of Romans 1 as their platform,” MacArthur said of the DNC in a recent Sunday morning sermon. “This is a new day in our country. Parties that used to differ on economics, now differ dramatically on issues that invade the realm of God’s law and morality.”


”I am beginning to see more and more pastors waking up and realizing that biblical and moral issues are under attack and they have no choice but to speak,” noted Staver. “This isn’t politics; it is biblical and moral issues that have been politicized.”

In 1980, Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell, along with other venerable Christian leaders, was central to placing Ronald Reagan in the White House. Today’s socio-political stage is strikingly similar. Pastors are poised to do the same thing for Mitt Romney.

At the time, Falwell gave a rousing call to arms: “What is wrong in America today?” he asked. “We preachers – and there are 340,000 of us who pastor churches – we hold the nation in our hand. And I say this to every preacher: We are going to stand accountable before God if we do not stand up and be counted.”

Pastors, stand up and be counted. The IRS muzzle has been removed. The choice is clear.
You know what to do.

Now go and do it.

http://clashdaily.com/2012/11/irs-surrenders-time-for-churches-to-get-political/

An Open Letter to The caliph خليفة Benedict Arnold Voters

By Matt Barber 
Did you vote for Barack Obama in 2008? A lot of people did – obviously.
What a time. There’s still room for improvement, but what a testimony to just how far we as a nation have come in terms of racial harmony, tolerance and diversity.
Only decades earlier a man like Barack Obama – a black man – couldn’t even drink from the same water fountain as a white man, let alone become president of the United States. A hundred years prior to that, and he may well have been counted another man’s property.
On Nov. 4, 2008, millions gathered at the ballot box to prove, once and for all, that, in large measure, we as a nation have healed from our disgraceful, self-inflicted wounds of racial abuse, bias and division.
That we could elect an African-American to lead the free world is indeed a very good thing.
We just happened to elect the wrong African-American.
In life, we sometimes find that the idea of a thing is far better than the thing itself. As a boy, I once ordered, from a comic book, a pair of X-ray glasses that promised to allow me to see the bones beneath my hand (my motives were a bit more ignoble). The two weeks it took for the glasses to arrive seemed like an eternity.
Once they did arrive, I ripped into the package and put them on, darting my head to-and-fro. It’s difficult to express my level of disappointment. As I quickly discovered, the glasses merely formed a halo effect around objects, creating the illusion of transparency. I felt embarrassed. I got took.
Barack Obama’s presidency has been a halo effect. Like I did so many years ago, in 2008 America fell victim to false advertising. As the past four years have demonstrated beyond any serious debate, the idea of President Obama was far better than the reality of President Obama. We were promised the world. We were promised transparency; but we were sold an illusion. We got took.
Indeed, during the 2008 campaign, a then-Sen. Barack Obama promised us that, if elected, we would look back upon the moment he took office and “tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth.”
That was the idea of President Obama. That was what many good, well-meaning people voted for. That was the hope offered and the change promised.
That was not what we got.
Though it’s certainly not a comprehensive analysis, during the second presidential debate, Mitt Romney, in response to Mr. Obama’s attempts to gloss over his mounting leadership failures, summarized a few of the big ones. While addressing an audience member who, perhaps like you, voted for Obama in 2008, Romney observed, in part, the following:
I think you know better. I think you know that these last four years haven’t been so good as the president just described and that you don’t feel like you’re confident that the next four years are going to be much better either. …
He said that, by now, we’d have unemployment at 5.4 percent. The difference between where it is and 5.4 percent is 9 million Americans without work. …
He said he would have, by now, put forward a plan to reform Medicare and Social Security, because he pointed out they’re on the road to bankruptcy. He would reform them. He’d get that done. He hasn’t even made a proposal on either one.
He said in his first year he’d put out an immigration plan that would deal with our immigration challenges. Didn’t even file it.
This is a president who has not been able to do what he said he’d do. He said that he’d cut in half the deficit. He hasn’t done that either. In fact, he doubled it.
He said that by now middle-income families would have a reduction in their health insurance premiums by $2,500 a year. It’s gone up by $2,500 a year. And if Obamacare is … implemented fully, it’ll be another $2,500. …
The middle class is getting crushed under the policies of a president who has not understood what it takes to get the economy working again. … [T]he number of people who are still looking for work is still 23 million Americans.
There are more people in poverty, one out of six people in poverty.
How about food stamps? When he took office, 32 million people were on food stamps. Today, 47 million people are on food stamps. How about the growth of the economy? It’s growing more slowly this year than last year – and more slowly last year than the year before. …
The president has tried, but his policies haven’t worked.
Recently, my wife and I attended an outdoor festival in central Virginia. Although the event was not political, there were people from both the Obama and Romney camps handing out campaign stickers and other items. I suspect that if a poll were taken, liberals out-numbered conservatives by about two-to-one.
That’s why I was so taken aback. Although we saw dozens of people wearing Romney stickers, we only saw one man wearing an Obama sticker.
We walked up to a fellow with a gray pony tail, John Lennon glasses and Birkenstocks. He was wearing a Romney sticker.
“Mind if I ask why you’re voting for Mitt Romney?” I asked. “I assume you are.”
His reply – and these were his words, not mine – was short and to the point: “Because I refuse to be that stupid twice.”
Changing one’s mind doesn’t always reveal a tendency toward indecision. Sometimes, changing one’s mind reveals a tendency toward wisdom.
Matt Barber (@jmattbarber on Twitter) is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action.

http://www.oregonmag.com/an-open-letter-to-obama-voters/

The Godless Democrats

By Matt Barber /  / 5 Comments

But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.(Matthew 10:33)

Are you a believer? I’m not asking if you’re a Democrat, a Republican or an independent. I’m asking if you believe in God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God of the living, not the dead. The great “I Am.”

If so, here’s something to seriously consider in the voting booth on Nov. 6. In its official 2012 version, the Democratic Party finally scrubbed all recognition of God from its party platform. This was intentional. It was by design. No one should have been surprised. It was a long time coming.

In just the last decade or so, extremist elements within the Democratic establishment have lodged a successful secular-socialist coup. The alarming consequences of this “progressive” triumph have become manifest throughout the pages of the DNC’s 2012 platform. They were also on display at the recent Democratic convention.

Slippery was the slope into Democrats’ anti-theist primordial bog. In 2004, there were seven mentions of God in the platform. In 2008, there was but one.

And in 2012?

None.

Zip, zero, nada.

Godless.

That is, until some in leadership realized that political fallout was reaching, well, biblical proportions. On Wednesday, in a highly contentious and unprecedented move, the DNC held a special session where, to a volley of stadium-shaking boos, Democratic leaders narrowly passed a resolution to put “God” back in the platform.

It was transparent as anything political can be. It was done out of fear, not love; necessity, not respect; incredulity, not fidelity. Nonetheless, Democrats, like everyone, should be grateful that God is more faithful to them than they were to Him.

Still, what’s equally revealing is what replaced God. The term “government” is referenced repeatedly – 55 times, in fact. Nearly each reference is premised on the dubious claim that big government can, and will, cure all of humanity’s ills. The DNC even played a promotional video proclaiming: “The government is the only thing we all belong to.”

Yikes.

True, the 2012 Republican Party platform also mentions government, but in the context of limiting its size and scope – of protecting individual liberty from the authoritarian monstrosity envisaged by Obama and the DNC. As Ronald Reagan observed: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

The Republican platform also acknowledges God. Twelve times, in fact. And each acknowledgement falls within the framework of “our country’s Judeo-Christian heritage.” This heritage is something the Democratic Party both stubbornly denies and viscerally abhors.

Shortly after the DNC released its secularist platform, I tweeted: “Well, Democrats are officially ‘godless’ …” Zack Ford, a “progressive” blogger with ThinkProgress.org, captured, I think, the general consensus among Democratic movers-and-shakers. He tartly replied: “Good!”

Another of my Twitter followers, @redandright, answered: “In all fairness to the DNC, I think He [God] requested it.”

She may be on to something.

How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, and your dwelling places, O Israel! … Blessed is the one who blesses you, and cursed is the one who curses you! (Numbers 24:5, 9)

No anti-God platform would be complete without taking Wite-Out™ to all things pro-Israel. Jews, take note: Democrats’ 2012 platform also “yanked” all previous pro-Israel language, even refusing to acknowledge Jerusalem as her capital.

This, too, should come as little surprise. Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama has shown overt hostility toward Israel – something no other president in American history has done. Instead, Obama has unapologetically sided with the Palestinian Authority, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamo-fascist radicals, all of whom seek Israel’s total annihilation.

Even so, after widespread Judeo-Christian outrage, language referencing Israel was once again restored.

Another too-little-too-late act of desperation? Perhaps. As Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the God-deniers favorite comrades-in-nothingness, once said: “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”

And then there’s Democrats’ sacred cow: abortion. Welcome to today’s Democratic Party, where the women are “sexually liberated” and their offspring gravely imperiled.

Indeed, it was genuinely sad to see such a parade of angry, hurting women take the DNC stage to command, with perverse pride, some phantom “constitutional right” to snuff-out their very own young (Bet she would’ve looked like you, mom).

Their party platform is no better. It “unequivocally” demands unfettered abortion on demand, at taxpayer expense, through the ninth month – “regardless of ability to pay.”

By contrast, the Republican platform aligns with the actual Constitution, stating: “[T]he unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.”

To be sure, it would have been helpful if the DNC had included, in its Glossary of Terms: “Reproductive Freedom: noun 1) ‘Sexual liberation’ without consequence (i.e., hook-up, cover-up, pay-up and shut-up.)”

I know. I’ve declared “war on women.” But we conservatives believe that sexual relativism comes at a cost – one we refuse to subsidize. I prefer to call it a “war for responsibility.”

Speaking of the “war on women,” wasn’t it rich? The DNC featured, as its heavy hitter, Bill Clinton – former Preezy of the Sleazy, serial sexual-harasser and, likely, so very much more.

They also had an emotional tribute to late Sen. Teddy “splash-’N-dash” Kennedy. I wonder if Mary Jo’s folks got free admission. Hypocrisy, thy initials are D-N-C.

But at least the Democratic platform is “pro-education,” right?

Well, for the record, being “pro-education” means teaching little Billy to read, not which eyeliner matches his skirt. (Yes, this godless manifesto went there too.)

Democrats signed-off on every demand of radical “LGBT” pressure groups. They even put their official stamp of approval on “same-sex marriage,” a postmodern novelty rejected in 32 of 32 states wherein “we the people” have spoken.

No, this ain’t your father’s Democratic Party. In fact, as the DNC goes godless, I suspect quite a few God-fearing Democrats are contemplating a break with tradition.

“Hope?”

Not so much.

“Change?”

Well, now maybe we’re on to something.

http://clashdaily.com/2012/09/the-godless-democrats/