Helping USA Churches address social issues without loss of tax deductability.

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In the USA a church may be fined or may lose its ability to offer tax deductions to donors if it ventures too far into the social justice arena. I don't like this violation of a church's free speech rights, but I urge churches to play by the rules.

Unfortunately the social justice ministry of Christians has been unlawfully challenged by misinformation from non-believers and others opposed to Biblical social justice. They falsely claim that perfectly lawful activity by pastors and churches will result in loss of IRS tax-exempt status. Don't let your Biblical social concerns ministry be silenced. One Christian non-profit law firm has produced a free booklet to inform pastors and believers of their rights and limits under current USA laws. I recommend it. God bless your service for Jesus Christ.

The Pacific Justice Institute is helping educate churches nationwide about their ability to preach biblical values on social and political issues without fear of losing their tax-exempt status with the completion of “The Church and Politics.”

“The Church and Politics” was mailed to over 1200 churches nationwide this week in an effort to equip pastors and laypersons alike to speak boldly on social issues facing our nation today.

“In an election year, it is absolutely critical for churches to know that they have the freedom to proclaim truth and biblical perspectives from the pulpit without fearing for their church’s non-profit status,” declared Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute. “Many liberal organizations have attempted to muzzle churches by falsely warning them that ‘being too political’ will cost them their tax-exemption, and we are passionate about letting them know the truth.”

See their website at www.pacificjustice.org

Note: I am not singling out liberals as purveyers of misinformation in this post. In fact I hadn't even noticed the L-Word in the last sentence the first time I read it. It just so happens that the only ones trying to silence Christians from being involved in social justice ministry this year happen to be liberals. If it had been conservatives trying to silence liberals with false information, I would have denounced them too. This should a human rights issue, not a liberal or conservative issue. Unfortunately some liberals have chosen to make it so.

 

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Rev Falwell reports 2,000 pastors adding new voters. Over 2,000,000 new voters have been added so far.

This is from a non-copyrighted, public domain email on 9/24/04:

More than 2,000 pastors have made firm commitments to me in the last ten days to hold voter registration drives in their churches over the next two Sundays. I have also spent the past several months urging about 100,000 pastors to do the same. The results have been exciting. I literally have not seen evangelicals this energized in years.

Pastor Falwell is part of a movement among Bible-believing Christians to register voters. The Americans United for (So-called) Separation of Church and State is trying to intimidate churches from addressing social issues from a Biblical standpoint. If your church is Bible-based and conservative and your pastor has been mislead by AU propaganda, take heart from this encouraging news and tell you pastor he can boldly become involved in the Name of Christ.

These types of voter registration efforts began with the 1980 election of President Reagan. Evangelicals were largely responsible for his victory and we continue to be major participants in the political process. We must ensure that the evangelical church remains a vigorous political force in the years to come. And, evangelical numbers are exploding as our churches, broadcasters, writers, publishers, musicians and Christian workers are winning thousands to faith in Christ every week. As “salt and light,” we are winning souls to Christ, baptizing them, discipling them to serve Christ, registering them to vote and sending them to the polls.

Furthermore, the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council recently announced that about two million new evangelical voters have been recently registered as part of a series of live nationwide simulcasts that were designed to motivate Christians to get involved in the political process. The organization has worked with churches and other national ministries across the country to register this vast new flock of evangelical voters.

“All this is perfectly legal for churches to do,” the organization states. And it is, even though some members of the radical left have been routinely attempting to convince pastors that they must shy away from such activity at the risk of losing their church’s tax-exempt status. Nothing could be further from the truth!