First Ammendment Rights.

October 26, 2010

Now that we are a week away from one of the most important elections in our life time; we find many glued to their televisions watching the polls and the various candidates duke it out for their seat in Washington.  Tuesday, November 2^nd is going to be an interesting evening for the entire country as the vote count tallies up and fingernails are bitten into the quick.

In the midst of all the political fodder that is being thrown out; there is an undercurrent taking place that many are not aware of.  In fact, it is a rip current that can possibly affect the future of the church, especially its tax status.  That current is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the tax code trying to control the pulpits in America regarding what pastors and ministers can and cannot say regarding political matters.  Even as I am writing this, there are pastors who are defying the IRS to take them to court for what they are saying from their pulpits; which is simply the exercise of their First Amendment rights.  So far, not a word from the IRS.  They are not going to fight because they know they will lose.

Many fail to realize that pastors do not have the same freedom of speech as non-pastors.  The tax code forbids any pastor from speaking out on any political issue or endorsing candidates from the pulpit.  I personally don’t care to endorse any candidate from the pulpit, but I do want to express my First Amendment right to address political issues as they affect the church and the nation.  I know some in our church may not agree with me, but that does not change the fact that our nation is in trouble, we need to know what is happening and collectively step out and do something about it in an orderly and biblical manner.

No enforcement agency of the federal government should be telling a pastor what he can and cannot say from his pulpit about the Bible or his views regarding the political process or have a right to take away the churches tax exemption.  Nowhere in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights do we find the words “separation of church and state.”  That is wording thrown out by some left wing liberal years ago and the entire nation took the bait hook line and sinker.  As a pastor I have First Amendment rights and my stand is not to endorse candidates (that is to be decided by the people), but to speak the truth about what is happening to our nation as a result of the poor job our congress is doing both Democratic and Republican.  I refuse to be lorded over by the IRS tax code, a president who refuses to include any mention of the “Creator” in his recitation of the Declaration of Independence and continually states we are not a Christian nation or by a congress woman who refuses to say “under God” when leading the pledge allegiance to the flag.

Many in Washington believe our rights do not come to us from God; they come to us from the government.  I say, what government gives, government can take away.  I refuse as a pastor to have my rights taken away in the pulpit by governmental authoritarians.   I will uphold my First Amendment rights in the pulpit!  I will state my political views and lead it up to the congregation to accept it or reject it.

That’s my view, what’s yours?

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