Over at Dakota Voice, Bob Ellis has an interesting post that details the history of politics from the pulpit in America.  Bob does a good job of detailing many of the stories where pastors in American history spoke forcefully and with great conviction from their pulpits about political matters.  From the very beginning of our country, pastors spoke from their pulpits about matters of American life and politics that intersected with morality and religion.  After reviewing this extensive history, Bob concludes:

Seeing this issue in the light of the U.S. Constitution and history,  it is no wonder the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) launched it’s “Pulpit Initiative” two years ago to challenge the unconstitutional 1954 tax amendment and restore pastoral freedom to America’s churches.

I couldn’t agree more.  If a page of history is worth a volume of logic, then the many pages of history that are filled with stories of pastoral intervention in political matters should be an open and shut case for the logic of jettisoning the Johnson Amendment.

In his excellent book, Why Churches Should Not Pay Taxes, Dean Kelley illustrates the active involvement of churches in American politics:

Throughout the history of the nation – and long before – churches have been active in helping to shape the public policy of the commonwealth in ways they believed God desired.  They were instrumental in setting the stage for the obtaining of independence at its beginning, when the “black regiment” – as James Otis called them – of the dissenting clergy thundered against the tyranny of King George from their pulpits.  A few decades later, the churches, acting corporately, brought an end to the practices of dueling by getting prohibitions against it written into the constitutions of twenty-one states, and no one conceived that this activity had any bearing on their tax exemption.  Churches were active in the effort to abolish slavery (though by the time of the Civil War there were religious apologists for slavery in the churches of the South).  Churches pressed for laws against gambling, Sabbath-breaking, alcoholic beverages, prostitution, and child labor.  They have worked for laws advancing labor organizing, woman suffrage, civil rights, and family welfare.

In none of these instances… was such public-spirited activity of the churches conceived to jeopardize their tax exemption.

History is replete with examples of churches and pastors speaking freely from their pulpits about the great social and moral issues of our day – including the selection of our national leaders.  That all stopped with the passage of the Johnson Amendment through clearly illegitimate means.  It is time to turn back the page of history to restore the constitutional rights of pastors and churches as active participants in our culture.

Pastors – learn more about this effort and sign up to participate at www.pulpitfreedom.org.

Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts or follow us on Facebook to join the conversation. http://www.facebook.com/SpeakUpChurch

Already, veteran chaplains from numerous denominations–including Lutherans, Southern Baptists, and Presbyterians–have spoken out to express their concern that repealing the current law that protects the military from open homosexual behavior will, among other things, harm religious liberty.  Just yesterday, another major voice in the chaplaincy community, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Catholic Church’s Military Diocese, added his voice in defense of the military’s current law.

His argument was made on two grounds: First, repeal cannot be allowed to limit the First Amendment rights and duties of chaplains in their ministry to Service members.  While those who practice homosexual behavior should receive “respect and treatment worthy of their human dignity,” “no restrictions or limitations on the teaching of Catholic morality can be accepted.  First Amendment rights regarding the free exercise of religion must be respected.”  Similarly, “Catholic chaplains must show compassion for persons with a homosexual orientation, but can never condone–even silently–homosexual behavior.”

Second, in what Archbishop Broglio describes as “a more fundamental” issue, repeal would harm the ability of the military to be an effective fighting force.  He reasons–correctly–that morality and “corresponding good moral decisions” are integral to “unit cohesion and the overall morale of troops and effectiveness of the mission.”  Thus, normalizing immoral behavior, like homosexuality, through military policy potentially would have an “enormous and overwhelming” effect on military readiness.  ”Sacrificing the moral beliefs of individuals or their living conditions to respond to merely political considerations is neither just nor prudent, especially for the armed forces at a time of war.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Stay tuned for more news of other religious leaders speaking out against repeal.

___________________________________________________________

If you’re a military chaplain, active or retired, and are interested in becoming involved in this issue or signing the Chaplains Letter, please contact us with your information.

Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts or follow us on Facebook to join the conversation. http://www.facebook.com/SpeakUpChurch

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke last week at the Catholic Community Conference and urged Catholic priests and bishops to talk up immigration reform from their pulpits.  Pelosi reportedy stated, “The cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops that come to me … say, ‘We want you to pass immigration reform,’ and I said, I want you to speak about it from the pulpit.”  Pelosi went on to say that, “Some (who) oppose immigration reform are sitting in those pews, and you have to tell them that this is a manifestation of our living the gospels.”

This statement is amazing as it is usually those on the left that are the first to raise the tiresome chant of “separation of church and state” when a pastor speaks from his pulpit on any issue touching politics.

I wonder whether Pelosi would have approved of statements like those of Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput who commented on the health-care reform bill and stated that the Senate health-care bill does not meet minimum moral standards and therefore, doesn’t have the support of the Catholic bishops.  Or would Pelosi have approved of and encouraged statements like the one made by Bishop Michael Sheridan that politicians like Pelosi who go against the Catholic Church’s teaching on abortion should not present themselves for communion.  I wonder whether Pelosi would agree that pastors have the right to speak out against candidates for office who do not align themselves with Scriptural Truth.

To be fair, I don’t know what Pelosi believes about a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit (I don’t think she is on record one way or the other on this issue) and, to be sure, her comments to the Catholic Community Conference suggest a willingness to include pastors and priests in the public debate on the important moral issues facing our country.  But, to borrow a phrase from our current President, “let’s be clear” about how far that goes.  For too long, pastors and priests have been told they cannot speak out on moral issues that touch on politics.  Indeed, the IRS has even gone so far as to say that a pastor can endanger their church’s tax exempt status by using “code words” during an election season.  (If you doubt whether that is true, look at page 345 of the IRS’ internal training materials on tax exemption restrictions on churches).

The point is that the government has been sending mixed messages for too long to our nation’s pastors.  On the one hand, politicians encourage pastors to speak from their pulpits when it is convenient, but on the other, the IRS comes knocking on the church’s door when a pastor speaks in a way that is not favored by those in power or crosses the IRS’ imaginary line between what is permitted and what is prohibited.

These mixed messages have gone on long enough.  It is time to bring clarity back to the law and get the government out of the business of censoring what a pastor can say from the pulpit.  That’s what ADF’s Pulpit Initiative is intended to do.  Pastors should be free to preach from their pulpit without fearing any government censorship or control.  And when a politician like Pelosi urges them to speak out on an issue, they should feel free to do so – even if that means opposing Pelosi or any other politician if the pastor believes that the politician or candidate for office does not align themselves with Scriptural Truth.

If you are a pastor, sign up for the Pulpit Initiative and get involved to protect the right of pastors to speak freely from their pulpits without any restriction.

Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts or follow us on Facebook to join the conversation. http://www.facebook.com/SpeakUpChurch