Churches risk their Tax Exemption to Prove Connection Between Beliefs and Politics
Posted by Anthony on September 8, 2008
This morning I woke up to a fascinating news report describing out the ADF is seeking churches to make political statements so that the IRS can penalize the churches, giving the ADF a vehicle to challenge the tax exemption requirement that such entities refrain from making political statements.
This is the sort of ‘fighting fire with fire’ approach that we need today. The ACLU and the FFRF have been going bonkers trying to create court cases that further their cause. It is high time Christians and religious people did the same.
One of the reasons why I have not made my own ministry tax exempt is precisely for the reasons described in this article. I did not want to be muzzled on political affairs. Moreover, one of the underlying themes of my apologetics ministry is that beliefs and actions are intertwined. One’s politics are not in a separate box that never touch the ‘religion’ box. A person who says he has no such box certainly does. He might just call it something a little different, like an ‘inferred metaphysical statement.’ So, we all have this box, whatever we call it.
Despite the close connection between beliefs and actions in reality, we like to pretend that connection isn’t so clear. It must be confessed, too, that in today’s day and age it is much easier to believe one thing and act another way. With the all out assault on the idea that there is an objective truth and reality out there, many people have their beliefs but are timid about expressing them in action. But this isn’t really a case where beliefs don’t lead to actions, it is really the exact opposite. The timidity itself arise from a belief, expressed in a question like this: “Who am I to say what is true?” Read the rest of the entry… »
