Alliance Defense Fund Offers to Help Churches

The Alliance Defense Fund is a non-profit group that is offering to fight in court for the First-Amendment rights of any church whose pastor speaks out on political matters. The IRS currently has a statute (501-C3) that threatens to take away the tax-exempt status of any church if a political opinion is offered from the pulpit. Many feel that this strips away First Amendment protections for a pastor's right to free speech. On the other hand, the Constitution does not in itself guarantee that a church will not be taxed, so it is an interesting issue.

However, on the whole I think the Alliance Defense Fund has a good point. Pastors are allowed to speak on virtually any issue except politics. For example, a pastor could speak out against the behavior of certain Hollywood personalities with no penalty, but speaking out about even a corrupt politician could get them in trouble.

Our county has a long history of church's speaking out on issues. Much of the drive to eliminate slavery came from the pulpit, for example.

What do you think? Feel free to submit a comment.

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Alliance Defense Fund to Defend Churches