U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann said on “Hot Tea” radio yesterday that she is sick of “radical leftist organizations” that “intimidate Christians” from speaking about politics from the pulpit.
Bachmann called for Congress to repeal the federal law that prevents all 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, including houses of worship, from endorsing or opposing candidates.
“We need to repeal that,” she said, […] Read More
Here’s some news you might have missed in the holiday shuffle last week: Wiley Drake, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., and former vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has issued a press release calling for the end to an “imprecatory prayer” for President Barack Obama’s death.
No, Drake was not overcome with […] Read More
Tomorrow, Election Day will be here again! And in Brooklyn, voters will decide between Maritza Davila and incumbent Diana Reyna for New York City council member in District 34 — just another example of our democracy hard at work.
That is, if you discount what seems to be quite the sneaky political scheme by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. […] Read More
Bobby Jindal continues to “jet set” across Louisiana.
By jet, I of course mean helicopter – one funded entirely by taxpayers.
As the Wall of Separation noted last fall, the Louisiana governor spent $180,000 in taxpayer funds during his first eight months in office to travel by a State Police helicopter to many of the same churches he visited […] Read More
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has announced it will hold another “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” on Sept. 27.
You might recall that during this event, the Religious Right legal outfit urges pastors to openly break the law by endorsing and/or opposing candidates from the pulpit. The group sponsored the first “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” on Sept. 28, 2008.
Thirty-three churches took part, […] Read More
A couple months ago, I blogged about a lively debate I attended about politics and the pulpit.
It was an afternoon bringing together people from the entire political spectrum. Participants on a panel, including AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn, discussed a provision in federal tax law that prohibits tax-exempt, non-profit organizations – including religious institutions – from endorsing […] Read More
Sometimes, a good, old-fashioned debate is the best way to hash out a contentious public issue.
I attended an event like this yesterday at the National Press Club here in Washington, where Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn participated in spirited (but polite) verbal bout over pulpit politicking.
The event was put on by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), […] Read More
Some right-wing members of the clergy are getting upset over the election of Barack Obama. I mean really getting upset.
The story about the Roman Catholic priest in Greenville, S.C., who told parishioners that if they voted for Obama they could not receive communion has been all over the Web. (He has since been reined in by his superiors.) […] Read More
Tomorrow, the 2008 election will be over, and the staff at Americans United can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
That relief won’t be based on the election’s outcome, but rather from no longer having to advocate constantly against the excessive use and abuse of religion in this presidential election — an abuse committed by both the political left and […] Read More
Americans United has always taken heat from the Religious Right for allegedly turning in only “conservative” churches to the Internal Revenue Service for candidate endorsements from the pulpit.
This 2008 election season has been no different, especially since AU reported the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson, N.J., for Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli’s comparison of Democratic candidate Barack Obama to […] Read More