{"id":83,"date":"2008-10-28T16:48:09","date_gmt":"2008-10-28T16:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.html"},"modified":"2008-10-28T16:48:09","modified_gmt":"2008-10-28T16:48:09","slug":"enough-with-the-speech-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.html","title":{"rendered":"“Enough With the Speech Police”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barry, the examples you cited show precisely why the IRS gag rule should be repealed. When the IRS investigates pro-life churches who speak out in defense of the unborn during the election season, it has a chilling effect on other churches. The line between issue advocacy and electioneering is not clear cut, and the uncertainty often leads to self-censorship.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

For example, the response <\/a>by the Paterson, N.J. Diocese that you linked to states:<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

“The characterization that Bishop Serratelli’s column intervened in the election process is inaccurate. His October 9 column was not directed to the upcoming presidential election, but was rather totally focused on the Freedom of Choice Act and the harm it would do to the nation if it were to be signed into law. It’s absolutely, positively misleading to say that the bishop urged Catholics not to vote for Sen. Obama. All the bishop did was to point out that in a speech before the Planned Parenthood Action Fund last year, Sen. Obama made the promise that the first thing he would do as President would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act.”<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

It sounds like the Bishop was simply following a moral duty to speak out against the Freedom of Choice Act, an unprecedented pro-abortion bill that leading Democrats have vowed to pursue if a Democrat becomes President. Churches that hear about complaints being filed against the Paterson, N.J. Diocese may be more hesitant to address the evil of abortion from their pulpits.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

In the New Mexico example you cited, the message conveyed by the similing baby photo and the aborted fetus photo above candidate names is ambiguous at best. The church was not telling people which candidates to vote for, and people who are strongly pro-life or pro-abortion are not going to change their mind after viewing the photos. If someone sees the photos and decides to vote for pro-life candidates as a result, it is because of their conscience, not the church.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

Congress needs to repeal the IRS gag rule to restore complete freedom of speech to pastors. Pastors that do not wish to discuss moral or policy issues are not required to do so, but those that want to speak out should be free to do so without a cloud of possible IRS investigation hanging over them.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

On the issue of preserving traditional marriage in California, I’m disappointed that you’ve resorted to labeling Pastor Rick Warren and the millions of Americans who support traditional marriage as “anti-gay,” “raising high the homophobia rooftop,” and holding a “bitter fear of others.” Not to get into theology, but since you mentioned what the Bible says about marriage, it certainly says nothing that would support anything other than marriage as between one man and one woman.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

The reality is that religious leaders–both conservative and liberal–are speaking out on Proposition 8<\/a>. Both sides consider this an important issue and there’s nothing wrong with a vibrant discussion that involves differing viewpoints. For every Rick Warren, there’s a liberal religious leader (or two) in California who claims that the Bible supports same sex “marriage.” The polls remain close, and “[l]eaders on both sides say they sense that the election will be close and that Proposition 8 could well pass.”<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

At least California voters have a chance to decide this issue for themselves once and for all rather than having judges decide for them. <\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barry, the examples you cited show precisely why the IRS gag rule should be repealed. When the IRS investigates pro-life churches who speak out in defense of the unborn during the election season, it has a chilling effect on other churches. The line between issue advocacy and electioneering is not clear cut, and the uncertainty…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-election-08","category-gay-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\n"Enough With the Speech Police" - 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\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.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 Speech Police" - Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Barry, the examples you cited show precisely why the IRS gag rule should be repealed. When the IRS investigates pro-life churches who speak out in defense of the unborn during the election season, it has a chilling effect on other churches. The line between issue advocacy and electioneering is not clear cut, and the uncertainty…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-28T16:48:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jay Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Enough With the Speech Police\" - 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\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Enough With the Speech Police\" - Lynn v. Sekulow","og_description":"Barry, the examples you cited show precisely why the IRS gag rule should be repealed. When the IRS investigates pro-life churches who speak out in defense of the unborn during the election season, it has a chilling effect on other churches. The line between issue advocacy and electioneering is not clear cut, and the uncertainty…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.html","og_site_name":"Lynn v. Sekulow","article_published_time":"2008-10-28T16:48:09+00:00","author":"Jay Sekulow","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.html","name":"\"Enough With the Speech Police\" - Lynn v. Sekulow","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-10-28T16:48:09+00:00","dateModified":"2008-10-28T16:48:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#\/schema\/person\/d09bc4c4bba2ac87034ee529f100fbaf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/10\/enough-with-the-speech-police.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Enough With the Speech Police”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/","name":"Lynn v. Sekulow","description":"A debate blog about church, state, faith and politics with Jay Sekulow and Barry W. Lynn","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#\/schema\/person\/d09bc4c4bba2ac87034ee529f100fbaf","name":"Jay Sekulow","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/574\/574bc7f1605fea9a78a1b3bac65ceb15x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/574\/574bc7f1605fea9a78a1b3bac65ceb15x96.jpg","caption":"Jay Sekulow"},"description":"Jay Alan Sekulow is Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a law firm and educational organization that focuses on constitutional law.  He is also Chief Counsel of the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ). Jay Sekulow has also served as a faculty member for the Office of Legal Education at the United States Department of Justice.  As a member of the faculty he instructed Assistant United States Attorneys and investigators in the First Amendment issues associated with prosecution of obscenity. An accomplished and respected judicial advocate, Sekulow has presented oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in numerous cases in defense of constitutional freedoms. Several landmark cases argued by Sekulow before the U.S. Supreme Court have become part of the legal landscape in the area of religious liberty litigation.  In the Mergens case, Sekulow cleared the way for public school students to form Bible clubs and religious organizations on their school campuses.  In the Lamb's Chapel case, Sekulow defended the free speech rights of religious groups, ensuring that they be treated equally with respect to the use of public facilities.  And, most recently, in McConnell v. FEC, Sekulow ensured that the constitutional rights of young people remain protected with a unanimous decision by the high court guaranteeing that minors can participate in political campaigns. A nationally recognized and respected defender of religious freedom, Sekulow has assembled one of the most prestigious law firms in the nation.  Founded in 1990, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses in constitutional law.  The ACLJ, under Sekulow's direction, is involved in public interest and public policy issues working to protect religious and constitutional liberties. In 2007, the Chicago Tribune concluded that the ACLJ has \"led the way\" in Christian legal advocacy.  In 2005, TIME Magazine named Sekulow one of the \"25 Most Influential Evangelicals\" in America and called the ACLJ \"a powerful counterweight\" to the ACLU.  Business Week said the ACLJ is \"the leading advocacy group for religious freedom.\"  Sekulow's work on the issue of judicial nominees - including possible vacancies at the Supreme Court - has received extensive news coverage including a front page story in The Wall Street Journal.  In addition, The National Law Journal has twice named Sekulow one of the \"100 Most Influential Lawyers\" in the United States (1994, 1997).  He is also among a distinguished group of attorneys known as \"The Public Sector 45\" named by The American Lawyer (January\/February 1997).  The magazine said the designation represents \"45 young lawyers outside the private sector whose vision and commitment are changing lives.\" Sekulow brings insight and education to listeners daily with his national call-in radio program, Jay Sekulow Live!, which is broadcast throughout the country on nearly 850 radio stations.  Sekulow also hosts a weekly television program, ACLJ This Week, which tackles the tough issues of the day and is broadcast on a number of networks nationwide including the Trinity Broadcasting Network and FamilyNet.  Sekulow is also a popular guest on nationally televised news programs on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, CNBC, and PBS.  He frequently contributes articles and commentary to national publications and is often quoted in the nation's leading newspapers including USA Today, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Washington Times. A graduate of Mercer University, Sekulow graduated cum laude receiving both a bachelor's degree and doctor of jurisprudence from Mercer University where he served on the Mercer Law Review as an editorial staff member.  Following graduation, Sekulow served as a tax trial attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service.  In that capacity, Sekulow prepared and brought to trial tax cases on behalf of the United States Department of Treasury in United States Tax Court. He also received a Ph.D. from Regent University, with a dissertation on American Legal History, and is the author of numerous publications and law articles. Sekulow serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for The Supreme Court Historical Society in Washington, DC.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/author\/jsekulow"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","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\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}