If you want to know the truth about what's going on in America, then Michael Savage is the one you need to listen to. But just like in the election, anyone who speaks the truth is demonized by the media. You can hear him on streaming audio on your computer starting at 6 PM eastern time on 910 am KNEW Talk Radio broadcasting from San Francisco.
Most pictures in this blog are large hi resolution images suitable for computer desktops. Click on any picture to enlarge
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
John 14:6
Joseph farah
Obama: Never a Christian
Posted: October 23, 20081:00 am Eastern© 2008
In making his endorsement of Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell made a religious assertion that cannot stand unchallenged.
Here's what he said: "I'm also troubled by, not what Senator [John] McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, 'Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim; he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian."
I would state it a little bit differently.
Obama is not a Christian and never has been.
The most extensive comments ever offered by Obama about his faith came in a 2004 Chicago Sun-Times interview I first wrote about last May.
Asked what he believes, Obama said: "I am a Christian. I'm rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there's an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived."
Many paths to the same place?
This is the antithesis of what Jesus reveals in Scripture, for example, in John 14:6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Obama also says in the interview he doesn't know if he is going to heaven, nor does he believe the alternative is hell.
That's pretty remarkable for someone professing to be a Christian. While I know, because Scripture tells us so, there will be many turned away from the narrow gate that leads to eternal life on Judgment Day, it's unusual for someone claiming to be a believer to be uncertain about his eternal fate. It suggests a high degree of spiritual confusion.
Obama also reveals in this interview at least an equal amount of constitutional illiteracy.
"Alongside my own deep personal faith, I am a follower, as well, of our civic religion," he says. "I am a big believer in the separation of church and state. I am a big believer in our constitutional structure. I mean, I'm a law professor at the University of Chicago teaching constitutional law. I am a great admirer of our founding charter and its resolve to prevent theocracies from forming and its resolve to prevent disruptive strains of fundamentalism from taking root in this country. I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God's mandate. I don't think it's healthy for public figures to wear religion on their sleeve as a means to insulate themselves from criticism, or dialogue with people who disagree with them."
Of course, nowhere in the Constitution will you find the phrase "separation of church and state" – not the U.S. Constitution, anyway. You will find it in the old Soviet Union constitution. The closest the U.S. Constitution comes to this subject matter is the First Amendment's restrictions on Congress against passing laws abridging the free exercise of religion and against establishing a state church.
Yet, this "constitutional scholar" evidently sees the First Amendment as a license to "prevent the disruptive strains of fundamentalism from taking root in this country."
While boasting a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ," in the same breath he says, "I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God's mandate. I don't think it's healthy for public figures to wear religion on their sleeve as a means to insulate themselves from criticism, or dialogue with people who disagree with them."
Obama says he prays regularly. But look how he describes that process: "It's not formal, me getting on my knees. I think I have an ongoing conversation with God. ... I'm constantly asking myself questions about what I'm doing, why I am doing it. The biggest challenge, I think, is always maintaining your moral compass."
So whom is he talking to in these conversations? He's talking to himself! He's talking to his under-developed conscience – the one that told him it was the right thing to do to prevent doctors and nurses from offering life-saving support to babies born alive after botched abortions. Am I surprised by any of this?
Of course not.
I've been listening to Barack Obama and watching him now throughout this presidential campaign.
. I think I have a good sense of who he is – and what his fruits are.
We are all shaped by our most basic beliefs about who we are and why we're here and who God is. Everyone has a worldview based on those precepts.
Obama's twisted prescription for policy change could only come from a worldview sowed by spiritual confusion and lack of discernment.
This interview, and others he has done since, revealed Obama, who calls himself a Christian, has no concept of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
He states that he has no idea of what will happen to him when he dies.
He suggests his eternal destination has something to do with being a "good father" to his children and transferring values he got from his atheist mother.
He says there are many paths to heaven.
In other words, he doesn't have a clue as to what it means to be a Christian. That, of course, is not surprising given the only church experience he has had in his life has come in that hate-filled, racist, neo-Marxist, liberation theology-based Trinity United Church of Christ. There "Christianity" is used to sell other religions – anti-Americanism, black victimization, socialism.
Here's the key to Christianity: Followers of Jesus accept His atoning, sacrificial death on the cross as full, unmerited payment for their sins and the sins of the world. They further believe they need to do their best to be obedient to His commandments.
Christians should have confidence that if they do those two things, they will have eternal life, because that's what God's Word reveals.
There is nothing else I can do to earn eternal life. It's not about good works. And it's certainly not about the evil works of selling socialism and slavery.
In other words, Powell is dead wrong about Obama. He may not be a practicing Muslim, but Obama is certainly no follower of Jesus.
Obama: Never a Christian
Posted: October 23, 20081:00 am Eastern© 2008
In making his endorsement of Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell made a religious assertion that cannot stand unchallenged.
Here's what he said: "I'm also troubled by, not what Senator [John] McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, 'Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim; he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian."
I would state it a little bit differently.
Obama is not a Christian and never has been.
The most extensive comments ever offered by Obama about his faith came in a 2004 Chicago Sun-Times interview I first wrote about last May.
Asked what he believes, Obama said: "I am a Christian. I'm rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there's an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived."
Many paths to the same place?
This is the antithesis of what Jesus reveals in Scripture, for example, in John 14:6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Obama also says in the interview he doesn't know if he is going to heaven, nor does he believe the alternative is hell.
That's pretty remarkable for someone professing to be a Christian. While I know, because Scripture tells us so, there will be many turned away from the narrow gate that leads to eternal life on Judgment Day, it's unusual for someone claiming to be a believer to be uncertain about his eternal fate. It suggests a high degree of spiritual confusion.
Obama also reveals in this interview at least an equal amount of constitutional illiteracy.
"Alongside my own deep personal faith, I am a follower, as well, of our civic religion," he says. "I am a big believer in the separation of church and state. I am a big believer in our constitutional structure. I mean, I'm a law professor at the University of Chicago teaching constitutional law. I am a great admirer of our founding charter and its resolve to prevent theocracies from forming and its resolve to prevent disruptive strains of fundamentalism from taking root in this country. I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God's mandate. I don't think it's healthy for public figures to wear religion on their sleeve as a means to insulate themselves from criticism, or dialogue with people who disagree with them."
Of course, nowhere in the Constitution will you find the phrase "separation of church and state" – not the U.S. Constitution, anyway. You will find it in the old Soviet Union constitution. The closest the U.S. Constitution comes to this subject matter is the First Amendment's restrictions on Congress against passing laws abridging the free exercise of religion and against establishing a state church.
Yet, this "constitutional scholar" evidently sees the First Amendment as a license to "prevent the disruptive strains of fundamentalism from taking root in this country."
While boasting a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ," in the same breath he says, "I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God's mandate. I don't think it's healthy for public figures to wear religion on their sleeve as a means to insulate themselves from criticism, or dialogue with people who disagree with them."
Obama says he prays regularly. But look how he describes that process: "It's not formal, me getting on my knees. I think I have an ongoing conversation with God. ... I'm constantly asking myself questions about what I'm doing, why I am doing it. The biggest challenge, I think, is always maintaining your moral compass."
So whom is he talking to in these conversations? He's talking to himself! He's talking to his under-developed conscience – the one that told him it was the right thing to do to prevent doctors and nurses from offering life-saving support to babies born alive after botched abortions. Am I surprised by any of this?
Of course not.
I've been listening to Barack Obama and watching him now throughout this presidential campaign.
. I think I have a good sense of who he is – and what his fruits are.
We are all shaped by our most basic beliefs about who we are and why we're here and who God is. Everyone has a worldview based on those precepts.
Obama's twisted prescription for policy change could only come from a worldview sowed by spiritual confusion and lack of discernment.
This interview, and others he has done since, revealed Obama, who calls himself a Christian, has no concept of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
He states that he has no idea of what will happen to him when he dies.
He suggests his eternal destination has something to do with being a "good father" to his children and transferring values he got from his atheist mother.
He says there are many paths to heaven.
In other words, he doesn't have a clue as to what it means to be a Christian. That, of course, is not surprising given the only church experience he has had in his life has come in that hate-filled, racist, neo-Marxist, liberation theology-based Trinity United Church of Christ. There "Christianity" is used to sell other religions – anti-Americanism, black victimization, socialism.
Here's the key to Christianity: Followers of Jesus accept His atoning, sacrificial death on the cross as full, unmerited payment for their sins and the sins of the world. They further believe they need to do their best to be obedient to His commandments.
Christians should have confidence that if they do those two things, they will have eternal life, because that's what God's Word reveals.
There is nothing else I can do to earn eternal life. It's not about good works. And it's certainly not about the evil works of selling socialism and slavery.
In other words, Powell is dead wrong about Obama. He may not be a practicing Muslim, but Obama is certainly no follower of Jesus.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Government and media control elections
Well, I voted today but I do not hold much faith in the system. Between no choice, electronic balloting; open to fraud and no paper trail, a media controlled election, rigged polls, ACORN, a government and politicians I have absolutely no trust in I've had it. Need I say more. Did I leave anything out? Like I said, I voted early in case the "O" doesn't win. That way I can avoid the riots and gunfire. After a lot of thought (five seconds) I decided to write in my choice. Got to take a stand somewhere, send a message I no longer believe in your electoral controlled two, I mean one party system. The democrats have gone to pure socialism and the republicans have taken the liberal slot. There is no conservative wing of the government. In the picture above there was one person in the group who's message never changed. Run the Government as it was laid out in the Constitution. Most of our problems stem from doing things against whats stated in the Constitution. I will no longer be a 'puppet on a string voter' controlled by government and media lies. It seems that so far, only 5% of the population has figured this out.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
2 visions of what America should be
By Joseph Farah
'One nation under God, indivisible …'?
Posted: October 21, 20081:00 am Eastern© 2008
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
The Declaration of Independence
I've lived through some turbulent years of American history, but I have never seen our country more polarized, more divided, more ripe for – dare I say it? – breakup, dissolution, a secessionist movement.
I admit I'm unafraid of radical ideas – if those radical ideas are just, righteous, moral and godly.
I believe it's time for radical ideas – just as it was time in 1776.
Frankly, I don't see a way to unite a people as divided as Americans are today. We are trying to pretend we're one nation when we are really two.
One of those two nations clings to the promises and covenants of the past, the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, as the guiding principles. The other believes in and lives with no immutable standards.
It's not a Republican vs. Democrat split – as the current election illustrates. I know many Republicans would find themselves more comfortable in the country of no standards. I also suspect many Democrats would actually find themselves more at home in the nation of the Bible, Declaration and Constitution.
Isn't it time for separation? Is the breakup of the union really such a difficult thing to consider? When there are no new lands to discover, what choice do we have?
My vision of the world is one in perfect harmony with the Bible, the Declaration and the Constitution. But these standards have been run over, obscured, distorted, demolished, nullified, undone, vandalized. Since, historically, it was the Bible, the Declaration and the Constitution that held us together, what binds us today? Shouldn't those of us who upheld the commitment to those standards have the right, in fact, the duty, to separate ourselves from those who have gutted them?
America was founded as a sovereign, independent nation. The vandals want to yield sovereignty to global authorities and make America interdependent.
America was founded with a federal government that was to be constitutionally limited in scope. The vandals have already succeeded in obliterating the enumerated powers.
America was founded as a nation of self-governing free people and sovereign states with significant authority reserved to them. The vandals have placed America under the shackles of a central government to which the states and people are subordinate.
America was founded as a nation of people "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The vandals deny the Creator, invent man-made rights and deny life and liberty are sacred values.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Order Farah's prescription for radical renewal, "Taking America Back"
We already are two peoples with irreconcilable differences sharing one nation. It's time for an amicable divorce – with each people free to pursue their own way.
I don't know how to make this happen. But I think it's time to start talking about it – start working toward it. I don't want to live under the consequences of the actions of the vandals. I don't want my children to do that. There ought to be a choice. Maybe we can live side by side in peace as two nations, but we can't live freely as one people any longer.
The moral justification for secession was found in our Declaration of Independence. It says governments are created to protect our unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It also says, "Whenever a government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it."
I know it's radical. I know it's not a topic being discussed on the Sunday morning talk shows. I know it's not a subject of op-eds in the New York Times. But, the more I think about it, the more I agree it's the only political solution that makes sense for an America that has lost its sense of mission and the original intent of those who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
What choice do we have but to break the bands that tie us together? Actually, to be honest, those bands have already been broken – by those who have, over time, grabbed control of our lives in a thousand insidious ways over the last 200-plus years.
It's time to move this debate forward – front and center. It's time to begin asking the real questions. It's time to restore liberty to America.
There's only one way to recapture the greatness of America. That is to start over – with only those willing to play by the rules. Let those who don't believe in rules have their own country to destroy.
'One nation under God, indivisible …'?
Posted: October 21, 20081:00 am Eastern© 2008
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
The Declaration of Independence
I've lived through some turbulent years of American history, but I have never seen our country more polarized, more divided, more ripe for – dare I say it? – breakup, dissolution, a secessionist movement.
I admit I'm unafraid of radical ideas – if those radical ideas are just, righteous, moral and godly.
I believe it's time for radical ideas – just as it was time in 1776.
Frankly, I don't see a way to unite a people as divided as Americans are today. We are trying to pretend we're one nation when we are really two.
One of those two nations clings to the promises and covenants of the past, the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, as the guiding principles. The other believes in and lives with no immutable standards.
It's not a Republican vs. Democrat split – as the current election illustrates. I know many Republicans would find themselves more comfortable in the country of no standards. I also suspect many Democrats would actually find themselves more at home in the nation of the Bible, Declaration and Constitution.
Isn't it time for separation? Is the breakup of the union really such a difficult thing to consider? When there are no new lands to discover, what choice do we have?
My vision of the world is one in perfect harmony with the Bible, the Declaration and the Constitution. But these standards have been run over, obscured, distorted, demolished, nullified, undone, vandalized. Since, historically, it was the Bible, the Declaration and the Constitution that held us together, what binds us today? Shouldn't those of us who upheld the commitment to those standards have the right, in fact, the duty, to separate ourselves from those who have gutted them?
America was founded as a sovereign, independent nation. The vandals want to yield sovereignty to global authorities and make America interdependent.
America was founded with a federal government that was to be constitutionally limited in scope. The vandals have already succeeded in obliterating the enumerated powers.
America was founded as a nation of self-governing free people and sovereign states with significant authority reserved to them. The vandals have placed America under the shackles of a central government to which the states and people are subordinate.
America was founded as a nation of people "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The vandals deny the Creator, invent man-made rights and deny life and liberty are sacred values.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Order Farah's prescription for radical renewal, "Taking America Back"
We already are two peoples with irreconcilable differences sharing one nation. It's time for an amicable divorce – with each people free to pursue their own way.
I don't know how to make this happen. But I think it's time to start talking about it – start working toward it. I don't want to live under the consequences of the actions of the vandals. I don't want my children to do that. There ought to be a choice. Maybe we can live side by side in peace as two nations, but we can't live freely as one people any longer.
The moral justification for secession was found in our Declaration of Independence. It says governments are created to protect our unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It also says, "Whenever a government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it."
I know it's radical. I know it's not a topic being discussed on the Sunday morning talk shows. I know it's not a subject of op-eds in the New York Times. But, the more I think about it, the more I agree it's the only political solution that makes sense for an America that has lost its sense of mission and the original intent of those who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
What choice do we have but to break the bands that tie us together? Actually, to be honest, those bands have already been broken – by those who have, over time, grabbed control of our lives in a thousand insidious ways over the last 200-plus years.
It's time to move this debate forward – front and center. It's time to begin asking the real questions. It's time to restore liberty to America.
There's only one way to recapture the greatness of America. That is to start over – with only those willing to play by the rules. Let those who don't believe in rules have their own country to destroy.
Monday, October 13, 2008
People portraying the real idiots
A SNL Skit, you could of fooled me. I'd say close to real life workings in Congress.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Aztec, Mayan and Inca Empires - What type of culture/religion did they have
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Obama and Jesus
The media says Obama is a Christian. Vaguely, I think he makes this claim also, yet he seems to have a hard time matching his beliefs with the Holy Bible. He also doesn't seem to fully understand the meaning of Christianity. For that fact, neither did his Church he attended for 20 years.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Go Green
A 'Green America'. Turn freeways into green ways. Get America off oil. A bicycle and a wagon is all you need in life. Breathe that clean fresh air. No need for a National Health Care plan. No more couch potatoes. By bicycling and walking all Americans will be healthy.No more dependence on foreign oil. A balance budget. No need to drill and endanger the environment. A return to a more quieter, simpler life. No need for shrinks. A reduction in crime, no get away vehicles. Hey, I've convinced myself. What's there not to like.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
NOTE
I'm always trying to make improvements to this blog, but sometimes I'm a little slow in doing this. I welcome comments and have found out that my comments section was some what restricting. I have now open up comments to all. Thank you for visiting this site.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
LBJ vs God
IRS should enforce pastor's speech ban. A spokesman for President Bush responds to question about preachers talking politics.
Posted: September 30, 20088:00 pm Eastern© 2008 WorldNetDaily
The Internal Revenue Service should be, and is, enforcing a law banning pastors from talking politics from their pulpits, according to a spokesman for the White House.
Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto today told Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, that he hasn't talked with the president about a campaign event last Sunday at which ministers of the Gospel addressed the moral issues at hand in the 2008 election.
Kinsolving asked: "The AP also reports that 33 pastors in 22 states made specific endorsements of political candidates in challenging the IRS-Lyndon Johnson ruling about no political endorsements in churches. And my question: Does the president believe that America's clergy should be denied the freedom of speech to endorse political candidates?"
Fratto responded: "Those rules are set forth in IRS regulations, directed by statute. And the IRS is enforcing the law, and the president believes that the IRS should enforce the law. But on the specific question of these clergymen, I haven't had that conversation with the president."
Alliance Defense Fund video says more pastors today should emulate the political activism of John Witherspoon
The campaign was launched by the Alliance Defense Fund to challenge the 1954 amendment to the Internal Revenue Code that barred non-profit groups such as churches from participating in or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of any political candidate.
At the time the effort was announced, ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley said, "Pastors have a right to speak about biblical values from the pulpit without fear of punishment. No one should be able to use the government to intimidate pastors into giving up their constitutional rights.
"The government can't demand that a church give up its right to tax-exempt status simply because the pastor exercises his First Amendment rights in the pulpit. Groups like Americans United intentionally trigger IRS investigations that will silence churches through fear, intimidation, and disinformation," he said.
The organization has posted a website video described the history of the rights of free speech, those who worked toward that goal and how the restriction came about.
"Prior to 1954, churches were free to evaluate the positions of political candidates on moral issues without fear of the Internal Revenue Service revoking their tax-exempt status," the ADF said. "That year, then-Senator Lyndon Johnson amended the tax code to add the threat of IRS action against churches if their pastors mentioned the positions of specific candidates from the pulpit. Citing that rule, groups like [Americans United] have repeatedly threatened to report churches to the IRS if they speak out on such issues."
Other tax-exempt organizations, the ADF said, don't have the same restrictions as churches, such as civic leagues; labor, agricultural, or horticultural associations; business leagues; chambers of commerce; real estate boards; boards of trade; professional football leagues; clubs organized for pleasure, recreation, and other nonprofit purposes; fraternal beneficiary societies; and cemeteries.
"The intimidation of churches by leftist groups using the IRS has grown to a point that ADF has no choice but to respond," Stanley said at the time. "The number of threats being reported to ADF is growing because of the aggressive campaign to unlawfully silence the church. IRS rules don't trump the Constitution, and the First Amendment certainly trumps the Johnson amendment."
According to the ADF, several dozen pastors participated in Sunday's campaign.
Kinsolving addressed the issue in his column for WND. which cited a message from Rev. John W. Yates II, clergyman for The Falls Church near Washington.
Yates referred to the "movement" afoot to have pastors "preach politics."
The law banning pastors from commenting "has always troubled me," he said.
"I'm skeptical about the government's authority to dictate to the church in this way," Yates said. "There is a cultural elitism in America that would like to keep religion privately comforting but publicly irrelevant! But if our biblical faith does not inform and shape our thinking on public policy and guide us in whom to vote for, we are simply failing in our responsibility as followers of Christ. We won't always agree with one another, but it is unthinkable that followers of Christ wouldn't evaluate candidates policies in light of the Word of God. I don't plan to break the law next Sunday. But I could envision a time arising when I would feel that I would be disobeying God not to speak to you about some political issue or election."
Posted: September 30, 20088:00 pm Eastern© 2008 WorldNetDaily
The Internal Revenue Service should be, and is, enforcing a law banning pastors from talking politics from their pulpits, according to a spokesman for the White House.
Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto today told Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, that he hasn't talked with the president about a campaign event last Sunday at which ministers of the Gospel addressed the moral issues at hand in the 2008 election.
Kinsolving asked: "The AP also reports that 33 pastors in 22 states made specific endorsements of political candidates in challenging the IRS-Lyndon Johnson ruling about no political endorsements in churches. And my question: Does the president believe that America's clergy should be denied the freedom of speech to endorse political candidates?"
Fratto responded: "Those rules are set forth in IRS regulations, directed by statute. And the IRS is enforcing the law, and the president believes that the IRS should enforce the law. But on the specific question of these clergymen, I haven't had that conversation with the president."
Alliance Defense Fund video says more pastors today should emulate the political activism of John Witherspoon
The campaign was launched by the Alliance Defense Fund to challenge the 1954 amendment to the Internal Revenue Code that barred non-profit groups such as churches from participating in or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of any political candidate.
At the time the effort was announced, ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley said, "Pastors have a right to speak about biblical values from the pulpit without fear of punishment. No one should be able to use the government to intimidate pastors into giving up their constitutional rights.
"The government can't demand that a church give up its right to tax-exempt status simply because the pastor exercises his First Amendment rights in the pulpit. Groups like Americans United intentionally trigger IRS investigations that will silence churches through fear, intimidation, and disinformation," he said.
The organization has posted a website video described the history of the rights of free speech, those who worked toward that goal and how the restriction came about.
"Prior to 1954, churches were free to evaluate the positions of political candidates on moral issues without fear of the Internal Revenue Service revoking their tax-exempt status," the ADF said. "That year, then-Senator Lyndon Johnson amended the tax code to add the threat of IRS action against churches if their pastors mentioned the positions of specific candidates from the pulpit. Citing that rule, groups like [Americans United] have repeatedly threatened to report churches to the IRS if they speak out on such issues."
Other tax-exempt organizations, the ADF said, don't have the same restrictions as churches, such as civic leagues; labor, agricultural, or horticultural associations; business leagues; chambers of commerce; real estate boards; boards of trade; professional football leagues; clubs organized for pleasure, recreation, and other nonprofit purposes; fraternal beneficiary societies; and cemeteries.
"The intimidation of churches by leftist groups using the IRS has grown to a point that ADF has no choice but to respond," Stanley said at the time. "The number of threats being reported to ADF is growing because of the aggressive campaign to unlawfully silence the church. IRS rules don't trump the Constitution, and the First Amendment certainly trumps the Johnson amendment."
According to the ADF, several dozen pastors participated in Sunday's campaign.
Kinsolving addressed the issue in his column for WND. which cited a message from Rev. John W. Yates II, clergyman for The Falls Church near Washington.
Yates referred to the "movement" afoot to have pastors "preach politics."
The law banning pastors from commenting "has always troubled me," he said.
"I'm skeptical about the government's authority to dictate to the church in this way," Yates said. "There is a cultural elitism in America that would like to keep religion privately comforting but publicly irrelevant! But if our biblical faith does not inform and shape our thinking on public policy and guide us in whom to vote for, we are simply failing in our responsibility as followers of Christ. We won't always agree with one another, but it is unthinkable that followers of Christ wouldn't evaluate candidates policies in light of the Word of God. I don't plan to break the law next Sunday. But I could envision a time arising when I would feel that I would be disobeying God not to speak to you about some political issue or election."