{"id":310,"date":"2010-10-06T15:57:32","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T15:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/10\/enough-with-the-church-politic.html"},"modified":"2010-10-06T15:57:32","modified_gmt":"2010-10-06T15:57:32","slug":"enough-with-the-church-politic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/10\/enough-with-the-church-politic.html","title":{"rendered":"Enough With The Church Politicking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay, <\/p>\n

I’m not sure if you heard all the ruckus recently coming out of Sioux City, Iowa. <\/p>\n

Americans United filed a complaint<\/a> with the Internal Revenue Service over a Sioux City church that insists it should receive a tax exemption while still being able to act as a political machine. <\/p>\n

We learned<\/a> Cornerstone World Outreach, a Sioux City congregation, is sponsoring a church-based campaign to unseat three justices from the Iowa Supreme Court. Project Jeremiah, as the church calls it, seeks to defeat the judges because they ruled<\/a> in favor of extending civil-marriage rights to same-sex couples.<\/p>\n


\n
The church had sent out a letter signed by Cornerstone Pastor Cary K.
\nGordon, that states, “pastors who join this effort are asked to commit
\nto confront the injustice and ungodly decisions of the Iowa Supreme
\nCourt by boldly calling upon their flocks to ‘vote no on judicial
\nretention’ for the three consecutive Sundays prior to Election Day.”<\/p>\n

Federal
\ntax law forbids 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches, from
\nintervening in elections in support of or opposition to any candidate. <\/p>\n

It’s
\nobvious this church knows, just as we know, that they are violating the
\nlaw. Gordon was just begging to be called out. After AU filed its
\ncomplaint, he said in a press release<\/a>:
\n“So let the battle between state and church begin. True pastors, in the
\nfashion of Christ, will not and cannot bow before the arrogance of
\nCaesar and Herod. We have learned from our past mistakes. We will not
\nrepeat the mistake made by Lutheran pastors when confronted with German
\nfascism.” <\/p>\n

Gordon’s response doesn’t make much sense. No one is asking him to “bow” to anyone. It’s simple –
\nhis church receives a tax exemption, and therefore his church must play
\nby the same rules as all other groups that receive tax exemptions. If
\nhe wants to use his church to tell people how to vote, he’s free to
\nforgo this benefit pay all his taxes. <\/p>\n

Most Americans agree with me. Americans overwhelmingly oppose electioneering by churches. A recent survey<\/a>
\nby the Pew Forum found that 70 percent of Americans say churches should
\nnot endorse political candidates. Only 24 percent agree with the ADF.<\/p>\n

Even
\nsome pastors in Sioux City cannot support Cornerstone’s actions. The
\nRev. Dan Lozer, a pastor of Mayflower Church in Sioux City and
\nAssociated Church in Hawarden, Iowa, told the Journal <\/i><\/a>that he didn’t even read most of the letter he received from Pastor Gordon. <\/p>\n

“You
\ncan declare your beliefs. What you can’t do is say, ‘On this ballot
\nproposition, I want you to vote like this,” he said, agreeing that it’s
\na rule he will continue to follow. <\/p>\n

And Kristie Arlt,
\nspokewoman for the Diocese of Sioux City, said the diocese does not
\nsupport individual political candidates or parties. <\/p>\n

“We focus on issues, not political candidates,” she said. <\/p>\n

That’s how it should be. We hope the IRS does its job and sets the Cornerstone pastor straight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay, I’m not sure if you heard all the ruckus recently coming out of Sioux City, Iowa. Americans United filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service over a Sioux City church that insists it should receive a tax exemption while still being able to act as a political machine. We learned Cornerstone World Outreach,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[372,368,371,370,283,51,67,369],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-politicking","tag-cary-k-gordon","tag-church-politicking-2","tag-cornerstone-world-outreach","tag-iowa","tag-irs","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-sioux-city"],"yoast_head":"\nEnough With The Church Politicking - Lynn v. Sekulow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/10\/enough-with-the-church-politic.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Enough With The Church Politicking - Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jay, I’m not sure if you heard all the ruckus recently coming out of Sioux City, Iowa. Americans United filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service over a Sioux City church that insists it should receive a tax exemption while still being able to act as a political machine. We learned Cornerstone World Outreach,…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/10\/enough-with-the-church-politic.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-06T15:57:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rev. Barry W. Lynn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Enough With The Church Politicking - Lynn v. Sekulow","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/10\/enough-with-the-church-politic.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Enough With The Church Politicking - Lynn v. 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An accomplished speaker and lecturer, Lynn has appeared frequently on television and radio broadcasts to offer analysis of First Amendment issues. News programs on which Lynn has appeared include PBS's \"NewsHour,\" NBC's \"Today Show,\" Fox News Channel's \"O'Reilly Factor,\" ABC's \"Nightline,\" CNN's \"Crossfire,\" CBS's \"60 Minutes,\" MSNBC's \"Countdown with Keith Olbermann,\" Fox News Channel's \"Hannity & Colmes,\" ABC's \"Good Morning America,\" CNN's \"Larry King Live\" and the national nightly news on NBC, ABC and CBS. On the radio, Lynn serves as host of \"Culture Shocks,\" a daily look at various issues affecting society and the culture. In the 1990s he served for two years as regular co-host of \"Pat Buchanan and Company\" and after that did a weekly syndicated radio program, \"Review of the News,\" with Col. Oliver North. Lynn is a regular guest on nationally broadcast radio programs, including National Public Radio's \"All Things Considered,\" \"Morning Edition\" and \"Talk of the Nation,\" as well as having appeared on national networks such as CBS Radio, CNN Radio, ABC Radio and AP Radio. Lynn began his professional career working at the national office of the United Church of Christ, including a two-year stint as legislative counsel for the Church's Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C. From 1984 to 1991 he was legislative counsel for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2006, Lynn authored Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom (Harmony Books). In 2008 he coauthored (with C. Welton Gaddy) First Freedom First: A Citizen's Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State (Beacon Press). Lynn writes frequently on religious liberty issues, and has had essays published in outlets such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. Lynn also has op-eds published frequently by the McClatchy and Scripps-Howard newspaper chains. A member of the Washington, D.C. and U.S. Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. Lynn, who was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and raised in Bethlehem, Pa., lives in Chevy Chase, Md., with his family.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/author\/blynn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}