Churches and Politics (Updated)

Updated 03/13/08: Looks like the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. is going out with a bang. How does he keep getting away with his political speeches from the pulpit? The IRS isn’t saying he violated the law or if the church is even under investigation.

From FoxNews:

The Internal Revenue Service wouldn’t comment on whether it is looking into potential tax violations at Trinity United. The church declined to make Wright available for an interview.

Congregant Dwight Hopkins, a professor of Theology at the University of Chicago, said there is no basis for the IRS to go after the church.

“From the church side they will say it’s theology,” said. “If it wasn’t a senator running for president and it wasn’t his church, then I think we could say all kinds of things.”

The IRS has written dozens of letters warning churches against political advocacy from the pulpit. Yet it has revoked a church’s tax-exempt status only twice in the last half-century.

Walsh said it’s not typical for the IRS to enforce the rules…(more)

Read the article, and listen to one of his so-called “sermons“:

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Original Post, October 16, 2007:

Americans United for Separation of Church and State clearly states the legal situation as, “The only thing houses of worship may not do is endorse or oppose candidates for public office or use their resources in partisan campaigns.”

This restriction, which is found in federal tax law, is not limited to churches and other religious ministries. In fact, it is applied to every non-profit organization in the country that holds a tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

An official IRS statement on its policy is here.

A Google search revealed the following complaints against churches.

In June the Washington-based advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State says the Internal Revenue Service should revoke the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status of Bill Keller Ministries when he warned the 2.4 million subscribers to his Internet prayer ministry that “if you vote for Mitt Romney (Rep), you are voting for Satan!”

The Minnesota Monitor reported here , that “an event last night at Living Word Christian Center, a large suburban chur