When it comes to college basketball, Lexington, Kentucky is “Title Town USA.”   With its precision offense and shot-blocking defense, the home-town University of Kentucky Wildcats won another NCAA national championship a few weeks ago.

But away from the basketball court, some folks in Lexington refuse to acknowledge that religious freedom ranks No. 1 in the Bill of Rights.

Some folks like the local Gay & Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO).  If they get their way, religious freedom will be dealt a huge defeat like those served on so many of the Wildcats’ basketball opponents.

Alleging “discrimination,” GLSO is demanding the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission slap a technical foul on the Christian-owned business Hands On Originals.

Blaine Adamson, co-owner of Hands On Originals shirt shop, declined GLSO’s request to print t-shirts for a “pride” parade celebrating homosexual behavior.  The co-owners of Hands On Originals sincerely believe in the inspired Word of God, and they strive to live by its commands in their personal and public lives.  They disagree with the message served by these “pride” parades, and they exercised their right to be obedient to God.

In retaliation, GLSO is urging large customers of Hands On Originals – including the University of Kentucky – to boycott the shirt shop, which could be forced to lay off employees if business revenue drops substantially.

Blaine Adamson joins a growing list of Christian business owners facing legal attack in the clash between the free exercise of religion – the first liberty affirmed in the U.S. Constitution – and the homosexual legal agenda.  The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and our allies have successfully defended many of them, but other costly legal battles rage on.  In New Mexico, Elaine Huguenin awaits appeal of a similar “discrimination” charge – for declining to photograph a same-sex “commitment ceremony.”  If convicted, she may have to close her photography business.

This issue brings two vitally important questions into play for believers.  How should the Body of Christ respond to these predatory assaults on religious liberty?  And, are pastors free to scripturally equip their congregations on how to respond to attacks on religious freedom?

It’s crucial for Christians to understand the serious legal risks they face in the public square as they strive to uphold their biblical beliefs.  Pastors also need to understand the attacks against their congregants and how to lead in a time of hostility toward religious freedom.

Pastors can take an important step in leadership by participating in the ADF Pulpit Freedom Sunday October 7^th when hundreds of pastors will preach the full counsel of scripture on the issue of candidates and the election to equip their congregations and to counter a challenge to their own free speech.

They do so knowing Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) will bluster and complain.  This radical group is threatening pastors with intimidating letters warning them to refrain from speaking on some of the moral issues which will help their congregations.

This bullying has been happening since Congress hastily approved the “Johnson Amendment” in 1954.  The act modified the Internal Revenue Service tax code and overturned 178 years of free speech for America’s pastors, who now risk loss of tax exemptions for applying scripture or church teaching to the issue of candidates and elections.

For instance, if Blaine Adamson’s pastor urges the congregation to vote for political candidates who will uphold religious liberty, AU will file a “complaint” (really just a tattle-tale letter) with the Internal Revenue Service demanding the church lose its tax exemption.

The Alliance Defense Fund and our allies are protecting churches willing to courageously challenge this unjust tax law.  While we’re not encouraging pastors to become political commentators, we are urging them to determine the content of sermons on their own.  For too long, pastors self-censored their messages and essentially enabled the IRS to determine what can and can’t be said in the pulpits of America.

Pulpit Freedom Sunday pastors are forwarding recordings of their sermons to the IRS in hopes of drawing investigations.  When IRS officials attempt to whistle a church for a flagrant foul, ADF will sue the IRS in an attempt to overturn the Johnson Amendment.  Our goal is to regain complete freedom for America’s churches.

Please pray for victory in the battles for religious freedom in Lexington, in New Mexico, and across America.  Pray for free speech for our pastors

How deep are your religious convictions?  Are religious beliefs merely a colorful veneer decorating the exterior of an individual’s life, or are they more akin to a rudder guiding the course and direction of the whole person?  Questions such as these might be ones that we ask ourselves individually as we wrestle with the role of faith in our own lives.  But they are also being debated at a societal level.  And the worldview of government officials specifically on these questions affects their willingness to either protect religious freedom or to disregard it.  Stated simply, our leaders believe either that religious faith is something that shifts and changes with the times like uneducated opinions, or they believe that religious faith forms the very identity of who we are as individuals and must be protected at any cost.

This issue surfaced with a ferocity unseen in American history when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandated that religious organizations and employers provide coverage for birth control and abortion-inducing drugs in their health plans.  As most of you are aware by now, the “HHS Mandate” as it is popularly known, has sparked a defiant outrage among people of faith who are being forced by the government to violate their deeply held religious beliefs. For many religious organizations and employers, there is no escape from this mandate.  They either comply or are punished.

The starkest example of the worldview of our governmental leaders was on display in the remarks of Kathleen Sebelius, the head of HHS, when she announced the implementation of the HHS Mandate.  Ms. Sebelius stated: “Nonprofit employers who, based on religious beliefs, do not currently provide contraceptive coverage in their insurance plan, will be provided an additional year, until August 1, 2013, to comply with the new law….  This additional year will allow these organizations more time and flexibility to adapt to this new rule.”

Did you catch that?  According to the head of HHS, religious beliefs can simply be adapted if given enough time.  Put simply, Ms. Sebelius is telling religious organizations that they have a year to drag their timeless and unchanging religious beliefs into the 21st century and to change them to fit the times. But what she really means is that religious beliefs must conform to a government official’s view of the world; that religious beliefs must evolve to fit the times as the government sees them.  Her message was unmistakable – either get with the program and make your religious beliefs flexible or we will mandate this on you anyway.  Either comply or be punished.

Such blatant disregard for the depth of religious convictions has not been seen in American history.  Never before has government attempted to force people of faith to either violate their religious beliefs or be monetarily punished if they choose to abide by them.  The framers of our Constitution, who made the free exercise of religion our “first freedom” by placing it in the First Amendment, would be appalled at the utter disregard shown to people of faith by Ms. Sebelius and the HHS Mandate.

This is where the Church in America must speak out.  Our government is experimenting with actions that, if left unchecked, will result in the destruction of the free exercise of religion.  John Murray, a Presbyterian preacher of the 20th century once stated, “The church lives in the world and it lives within the domain of political entities. If it is to be faithful in its commission it must make its voice heard and felt in reference to public questions.”  The greatest public question facing the Church today is whether government will respect religious freedom or exercise its power to destroy it.  The importance of the outcome of this debate cannot be overstated.  The future of religious freedom in America depends largely on the Church making its voice heard loudly, clearly, and forcefully on this important issue.

Although the HHS Mandate does not directly affect churches because churches are exempted from the mandate, it does affect every church member and most religious ministries and organizations.  The Church must protect those within its ranks subjected to the mandate.  If the Church is the conscience of the nation, which it is, then it must stand against this unconscionable act.

One way that can happen is by participating in Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  On October 7, 2012, hundreds of pastors will unite their voices against the government’s desire to control religion.  Pulpit Freedom Sunday is an excellent opportunity for the Church to come alive and speak boldly to government.

The Church must stand united to protect religious freedom.  Faith is timeless and forms the bedrock foundation of our lives.  It does not change with the culture or by the whim of the government.  And that’s a message our governmental leaders need to hear loud and clear.

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If you are a pastor, go to www.pulpitfreedom.org and sign up to participate this October 7.  The website contains resources and answers to questions you may have regarding Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  And if you are not a pastor, please get the information about Pulpit Freedom Sunday to as many pastors as you can.

A bill was recently introduced in the House of Representatives to repeal the portion of the Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) popularly referred to as the Johnson Amendment.  The bill is H.R. 3600 and, in its preamble, states that its purpose is to “restore the Free Speech and First Amendment rights of churches and exempt organizations by repealing the 1954 Johnson Amendment.”

It is no secret that ADF believes the Johnson Amendment is blatantly unconstitutional.  It violates the First Amendment in numerous ways.  It was also passed hastily with no forethought given to its effect on the constitutional rights of churches and pastors.  If you are interested, one scholar has done an in-depth study of the history of the Johnson Amendment and its dubious beginnings. This scholar concluded that the Johnson Amendment had nothing to do with the so-called “separation of church and state” and was not intended to enforce any perceived proper role of the church in relation to politics.  Rather, the Johnson Amendment was a bill passed to silence Johnson’s political opponents who were hurting his reelection chances.

It would be a great day for America’s clergy if Congress were to repeal the Johnson Amendment.  The bill, H.R. 3600 has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee and is pending further action.

Pastors should capitalize on this momentum by doing two things.  First, remain informed of the progress of H.R. 3600.  We will do our best to keep you updated on its status.  Second, sign up to participate in Pulpit Freedom Sunday to be held on October 7, 2012.  If you are not a pastor, send every pastor you know to www.pulpitfreedom.org and encourage them to sign up to stand together with hundreds of other pastors who are exercising their constitutional rights to speak freely from their pulpits.  This year’s Pulpit Freedom Sunday promises to be the biggest yet.  Please sign up now to participate.

As readers of this blog know, ADF has conducted Pulpit Freedom Sunday since 2008.  Pulpit Freedom Sunday is a legal project designed to restore a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit without fearing government censorship or control.  The government, by applying the Johnson Amendment to churches and pastors, has been mandating that certain content in a pastor’s sermon is off-limits and can result in penalties against the church.  ADF launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008 to challenge the constitutionality of the Johnson Amendment.  We believe that it is unconstitutional for the government to attempt in any way to censor a pastor’s sermon.

In 2008, 33 pastors preached sermons evaluating candidates in light of Scripture and then making specific recommendations about those candidates.  They sent their sermons to the IRS.  The number of pastors increased to 84 in 2009 and increased from there to 100 in 2010.  Last October, the amount of pastors jumped dramatically to 539 pastors who participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday!  These pastors made their sermons public.  They were not preaching secretly or trying to “get away” with something.  Rather, these pastors sincerely want to regain their right to speak freely during their sermons without having to wonder or fear if a government agency is going to punish the church because of something the pastor said from the pulpit.

Over six months have now come and gone since Pulpit Freedom Sunday 2011.  And it has been over four years since Pulpit Freedom Sunday 2008.  Yet the IRS has remained silent.  No pastor has been punished or threatened with punishment by the IRS for participating in Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  I’ve speculated before about the reasons why the IRS has remained silent.  But, in reality, the reasons are unimportant.  What is important is that the IRS has said nothing and done nothing in response to Pulpit Freedom Sunday.

We cannot let up and must continue to march forward to regain a pastor’s right to speak without the presence of the government in the pulpit.  Pulpit Freedom Sunday is coming up on October 7, 2012.  Please, if you are a pastor, sign up to participate this year in Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  And if you are not a pastor, then send every pastor you know a link to our website at www.pulpitfreedom.org.  All the information any pastor needs to become aware of the issues and to sign up to participate is on the website.  We must continue our efforts to get the government out of the pulpits of America.  Will you stand together with us and hundreds of other pastors this October?

This tough economy is hitting everyone. From unemployment to Wall Street bailouts to rocketing gas prices, it seems that everyone is hurting for cash. Apparently, local governments are no exception.  Across this nation, local taxing authorities are trying to increase their coffers by denying property tax exemptions for churches. If you are not careful, your church could be next.

One such battle is taking place in Concord, New Hampshire, involving Liberty Assembly of God. Their story should serve as a warning to all.

The church has existed in its current building for more than 15 years. It’s your typical church. It has services on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. A music minister leads the people in singing. It runs a food pantry and even has the occasional person who sleeps through the pastor’s sermons.

Unfortunately, this church came upon hard times. Attendance dropped, and consequently, the church was not using every room as it had before. For example, instead of using four rooms for Sunday school classes, they now only needed to use two.

One day, city officials decided to inspect the church to see if it was being used for religious purposes. These officials conducted a room-by-room analysis, even going through the drawers in the rooms! The city was looking for evidence to support its claim that if any single room was not being used for a religious purpose, it should be taxed.

Unfortunately, the city concluded that not all of the rooms were currently being used for a religious purpose, and stripped the church of its full tax exemption. When asked how the city could possibly come to this conclusion, Kathryn Temchack, the city’s director of real estate assessments, said it was because the rooms were not in good order or use. The following are actual quotations from Ms. Temchack’s deposition as to why she denied the tax exemption:

* She testified that, although the storage of a desk and a musical keyboard could serve a religious purpose, the Church’s storage of such items did not serve a religious purpose “because of all the other junk that’s sitting around it.”

* When asked if the cleanliness of how things are stored play a part in determining whether items are being used for a religious purpose, she said, “it could be. I think there would be some kind of order to it if it was being used for a religious purpose, that you would expect to see tables, chairs, religious posters, a cross, an altar, something of that magnitude here that would say that there’s something religious happening. Bibles. I see just a bunch of stuff sitting in a room.”

* When asked if the storage of a keyboard served a religious purpose, she said, “it’s just not so much the storage of the keyboard. It’s the appearance of the area that it’s in. It’s the condition of those rooms, that it just appeared to be not in use or organized for any type of use.”

* When asked if the storage of a box for the PowerPoint projector (used during worship services) could serve a religious purpose, she testified, “I think it’s the condition of this room. If it’s being used for storage, it’s like how would you know? I don’t know how anyone would know where anything was in this room or how you would find anything in this room. It’s the condition of what’s in the room of the property itself. It’s just a bunch of stuff.”

Apparently, Ms. Temchack took seriously her mother’s admonition that cleanliness was next to godliness!
ADF is representing this church, as the city’s actions pose a real danger for churches, especially struggling ones. The danger here is that, at least according to some tax assessors, if a church ceases to use a room for a religious purpose, it can no longer claim a tax exemption for that room. For instance, the city officials in Concord stated that it could tax a church closet if it was not being used for a religious purpose!

The caution for churches is to make sure to use the property God has entrusted to their care. If they don’t, a tax assessor like the one in New Hampshire might very well try to collect some taxes from them.

If your tax exemption is being challenged because the taxing authority does not believe your church’s use of the space serves a religious purpose, or if you have any questions about your legal rights, please contact the Alliance Defense Fund.