Liberty Reborn

Disclaimer: I am not endorsing anything that pastor Gus Booth has ever said because I don’t know that much about him and his particular brand of Christianity. What I am endorsing is his stand on freedom of religion and against clearly anti-Christian principles and government thuggery.

So, now that that is out of the way, let’s cut to the chase. For years the IRS has bullied churches that dared to speak up on politics and pastors that stumped for particular candidates from the pulpit – well, at least when such candidates are Republicans or generally right of center. The fact is that the IRS rarely threatens churches that either promote Democrats or even invite Democrat Party candidates to speak from their pulpits.

The Constitution is clear. It says Congress “shall make no law” abridging the freedom of religion. That also means that it cannot create an agency (such as the IRS) which creates rules as a way to skirt this restriction. But they have tried. Over the years many have defied the IRS and the jackbooted thugs it employs. Pastor Gus Booth has now openly defied the IRS as well.

Few Americans would invite an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, but that’s exactly what Minnesota pastor Gus Booth wanted when he stood behind his pulpit and told his congregation God wanted them to vote Republican.

In an election where candidates openly discuss their faith and are regularly seen in churches, and a time when pastors’ sermons lead the politics sections of newspapers, one might be excused for not knowing that it is illegal for a church to endorse or oppose a candidate for president.

But when Booth addressed the members of his Warroad Community Church one Sunday in May and told them, “If you are a Christian, you cannot support a candidate like Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for president,” he very much knew he was violating the law. He even wrote a letter to the IRS explaining what he had said and challenging the tax collection agency to do something about it.

This will not sit well with more liberal Americans who not only think the IRS should be used to bully churches into not preaching God’s word, but also who have discarded Christianity or bastardized it.

The Christian religion has been splintered as of late. You have Christians that believe in the 10 commandments and you have Christians that do not believe in them. You have Christians that still believe it is wrong to murder while you have other Christians who believe that it is ok to murder unborn children. You have Christians who still believe that it is wrong to covet what others have and who still believe that it is wrong to forcibly take what others have (i.e. steal) while you have new liberal Christians who believe that it is ok to use the government force to take from one person and “give” those spoils to another.

It is important to note these issues moving forward. Because they are important issues.

We cannot allow the government to sterilize religion and command it on which issues it may speak. And we must call those who no longer believe in what core tenants of Christianity believes what they are and be truthful that if you are a true Christian there simply are certain candidates you cannot vote for.

Of course liberals will whine and complain when we do these things. But we must not shrink in the face of them.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 21st, 2008 at 10:44 am and is filed under J.J. Jackson's Daily Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.