Last week I discussed a Chronicle article about how fundamentalist mega-churches are helping out the Proposition 73 campaign by showing a pro-73 DVD to their congregations. As I said, this is nothing new; for several years now evangelical conservative congregations have been serving as an auxiliary Republican Party. In theory, this should endanger their tax-exempt status; in practice...don't make me laugh.
Today, Mark Kleiman directs us to a case in which the IRS is investigating a church where the minister preached an anti-war sermon.
In this case, the minister was critical of Bush but was also careful to avoid anything remotely approaching an endorsement:
Regas said that "good people of profound faith" could vote for either man, and did not tell parishioners whom to support.If what Reverend Regas said was right back in 2004 (and that's arguable), it is certainly wrong now: good people of profound faith cannot possibly support an administration that uses the IRS to intimidate people of faith into political conformity. Good people, period, cannot possibly support this administration, for reasons too numerous to mention.
But he criticized the war in Iraq, saying that Jesus would have told Bush, "Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster."
Mark Kleiman thinks this might provoke criticism even in the conservative churches. I'm not holding my breath.
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