you probably know that churches and other religious organizations are tax-exempt, but have you ever wondered why? basically, it's a reward for not getting in the way of politicians and public policy. that being the case, if a given religious leader or group does advocate a particular politician or public policy, they should lose their tax-exempt status, right?since churches own somewhere between 20 and 25 percent of all of the land in the u.s. - not to mention the tens of billions of dollars that they take in each year - the potential ramifications of this are profound.
on september 28, a group of roughly 80 religious leaders, under the tutelage of a group of right-wing lawyers called the alliance defense fund, plans to deliberately contravene the tax law by openly declaring support for and opposition to political candidates. their argument is that religious leaders, under the guarantees regardin freedom of speech, have a right to engage in this type of speech.
here's elsewhen's position: of course religious leaders have a right to free speech. to our mind, there is an easy solution - one that's already well supported by precedent: if the adf supporters engage in political speech, they should lose their tax-exempt status. and they can exercise their right to free speech in the same free speech zones that the rest of us keep getting herded to. problem solved.
(you're welcome.)