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Catholic Church makes political announcement during service?

Wrangor

Wrangor

Go Deacs
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Apparently nationwide the Catholic Church read a letter railing against Obama during Mass. Not a big fan of churches pushing a political agenda to be honest. What i mean by pushing is not that they can't have opinion, but in the sense of a mass communication from the top down for the members of the church to follow in step. Jesus wasn't political, I don't think our churches should be focused on politics either.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_...-anti-obama-letter-in-church/?tag=re1.channel
 
Actually churches, synagogues and other houses of faith can lose their non-profit status for being political.
 
RJKarl said:
Actually churches, synagogues and other houses of faith can lose their non-profit status for being political.
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I think, personally, once a church (or similar institution) reaches a certain level of income, they should lose it anyway. If you can build a multi-million dollar mega church, you can pay taxes on it. Just my opinion.
 
no, churches risk losing tax-exempt status for engaging in electioneering activities.

this is clearly not that.

yes, it's still ok for the Church to speak out against administration policies that (in the Church's view) cut against core beliefs.

In the same way, it was not electioneering when, in 2003, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote an open letter to George Bush opposing the Iraq war and stating that it failed to meet the Church's view of "just war."
 
Deadbolt said:
I think, personally, once a church (or similar institution) reaches a certain level of income, they should lose it anyway. If you can build a multi-million dollar mega church, you can pay taxes on it. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

In Philly, the Jesuits have a massive property in Merion that must be worth high eight to low nine figures,

I can't even thnik about how much the mormon Temple's land in West LA is worth. I'd say at least mid-nine figures and maybe much more.
 
I think you could have some religious freedoms issues at this point if you taxed churches. Poor churches would say that the government favored bigger churches and that they were unable to operate because they couldn't afford their taxes.
 
DeaconCav06 said:
I think you could have some religious freedoms issues at this point if you taxed churches. Poor churches would say that the government favored bigger churches and that they were unable to operate because they couldn't afford their taxes.
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That's why I suggest a threshold. If they are just pulling in enough to keep the lights on, that's one thing. But if they're in a situation like RJ describes where they're sitting on millions in worth, that line between being a business and a non-profit begins to blur.
 
TheShot said:
no, churches risk losing tax-exempt status for engaging in electioneering activities.

this is clearly not that.

yes, it's still ok for the Church to speak out against administration policies that (in the Church's view) cut against core beliefs.

In the same way, it was not electioneering when, in 2003, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote an open letter to George Bush opposing the Iraq war and stating that it failed to meet the Church's view of "just war."
Click to expand...

Actually anything that promotes an agenda against government policy or can be perceived as endorsing a candidate or political issue can jeopardize tax exemption. Sen. Grassley's office has well-developed arguments on this case.

But it's a waste of time. Churches have flaunted this rule, many VERY openly, and have never been penalized for it.

In this case, arguing FOR your position of faith is one thing. Arguing against a political position is another. Churches have chosen to engage in many activities not explicitly within the concept of "church." Engaging in social endeavors and educational institutions bring churches into areas which they share with non-secular entities which are subject to regulation. In that regard, they must be considered no more or less favorably than their non-secular competitors/partners.
 
If they read a letter like that during a church service I was at I would think it was so fucking tacky.
 
But if you think about it, many people pick-and-choose what they want from a religion. Is a Catholic Obama supporter going to vote against him because of a health mandate on contraceptives? I can't recall the numbers but I've seen surveys that indicate most American Catholics believe the church is simply wrong on its opposition to contraception. If a candidate supported allowing the public to vote on Sunday sales, does that mean his supporters at the local Baptist church are going to ditch him? In some cases, perhaps, but many probably feel they support him for his stands on much more important issues.
 
Seriously tax exemptions for religious institutions have got to go. Time to pay your share.
 
Of course nobody ever says anything when Valerie Jarret goes to Ebenezer and makes an relection speech on MLK day.
 
Religion informs public life. Public life is inherently infused with politics. I just wish more Christians were more honest about what Jesus calls us/them to do and be concerned about. You know like helping the poor vs. hating gay folks.

FWIW, I don't really go to church anymore. I just think that even though religion is screwed up, it's free expression is an important element of the Constitution.

Tax exemption is as simple as revenue benchmarks. It's about the nature of the work, and the purpose of existence. American Cancer Society is rolling in dough, should they lose their nonprofit status? They need to endorse policies that support cancer research and other things valued by their mission. Religion is no different.
 
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