Pulpit Politics

57 years ago a senator from Texas returned to Washington D.C. having narrowly escaped defeat. And he was hotter than hell ... see, two non-profit groups, and more specifically the men whom headed them, raised money, put out literature and campaigned relentlessly against this senator as being soft on communism. So the senator took action.

In 1954, with no debate, and on a US Senate voice-vote only he submitted an amendment to an IRS bill. Specifically Section 501(c) (3). It stated that entities who are exempt from federal income tax cannot, "Participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of - or in opposition to - any candidate for public office."

The effect of Lyndon B. Johnson's personal vendetta, even if unintended, was to summarily shut down all political speech from the pulpit.

Now lets put this in context. The "Black Robe Regiment" was a series of pastors in the second half of the 18th Century whom preached the necessity of Revolution from the pulpit. This was no mere "suggestion", these were fiery, multi-hour sermons demanding the Christian responsibility to break with England. In fact Paul Revere's ride included the warning of at least 2 of these pastors along his route (it was rumored the British were to target these individuals responsible for inspiring rebellion). John Adams coined the phrase "Pulpit Thunder", and repeatedly noted it was these sermons which sounded the alarm necessitating Independence. In one such case the story goes that in 1776 a Lutheran Pastor, one Peter Mulhberg, concluded his fiery pro Independence sermon by ripping off his robe to reveal a Continental Army uniform underneath, enlisting 300 men for his German regiment on the spot. And we should note, there was no "political" issue more controversial at the time than Revolution.

Lets fast forward a bit. Throughout the 19th Century the midwife, birthplace and caregiver of the Abolitionist movement in America was the Christian Church, and specifically the pastors whom headed them. Without the churches to nurse the movement along it would have never got off the ground, let alone turn into the defining issue of the century. Again, we should all bare in mind that at this time there was no "political" topic hotter than slavery ... we did end up fighting a Civil War over it after all.

Fast forward again. Without the pulpit's urging, participation, and driving engine the Civil Rights movement would have been smothered in the crib. REVEREND Martin Luther King knew this. Even those whom would later become racial demagogues, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, wrapped themselves in the cloak of church garbs to push for political change. Even Malcolm X was a man of faith, pushing for reform from the pulpit. Each defying what became known as the "Johnson Amendment."

For decade after decade pastors would preach an annual "Election Sermon" in which they would, from the pulpit, evaluate and give a pastor's take on the candidates running for office both local and national. And undoubtedly there are countless other examples of the pulpit serving as a good and just rallying point throughout American history, I simply can not include them all in a single post. But what they all - left, right, or center - had in common throughout each of these periods in American history prior to 1954 was their unconditional tax exempt status. It was intact and guarded based on the separation of church and state because the power to tax, as our founders knew all too well, was the power to control. The Johnson Amendment quietly, and with little fanfare, ended this 57 years ago.

Ask yourself. Can you note when in modern American history there is a clear demarcation line of moral decline? At least one of the founders Bund believe it to be the 1960's, the Baby Boomers. Can the Johnson Amendment explain such a decline in its entirety? Maybe not. But I find it an interesting spatial parallel.

Fast forward to today. Have you ever considered why it is that the likes of Jeremiah Wright can spout off from the pulpit about exclusively political issues and never be challenged by the IRS? The answer is simple. Johnson was quietly warned at the time that his Amendment may not hold up in court under the auspices of the First Amendment. And in those 57 years the IRS has never pursued a single case in court. NOT ONE. They don't want it to go to court, they know they'll lose. So when a case is brought before the IRS they simply issue a warning and quietly "close the file."

In 2008 the Alliance Defense Fund, a group 2,500 Christian attorney's, hand sleeted a group of 33 pastors willing to engage in political discourse from the pulpit, video record it, and mail it in to the IRS. They wanted to purposely cause the courtroom confrontation and finally end the authority of the Johnson Amendment. I should note here that the intent of these pastors was to evaluate the candidates, the issues, and the parties and give their take on which was most in line with Christian teachings, as the individual pastor saw it. Their "opinion" was precisely the point of the exercise. They did just that, and dutifully mailed it in.

The IRS did nothing.

In 2009 the Alliance Defense Fund acted again and this time put together 84 pastors. These pastors did the same thing - recorded their sermons on politics and sent it in to the IRS.

The IRS did nothing.

Last year 100 pastors participated, all recording their sermons, all sending them in with the 2,500 attorneys of the Alliance Defense Fund ready and willing, standing by to defend.

The IRS did nothing.

This year Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Church in La Mesa, CA allied with the ADF and has thus far signed up 500 pastors. They are looking to reach the 1000 mark by October 2nd. They have declared that Sunday in October to be "Pulpit Freedom Sunday." You can access his site and cause at pulpitfreedom.org. They hope to get the number of pastors large enough that the IRS is forced to engage, confident that such a showdown will see the Johnson Amendment struck down as an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech.

Now the point here isn't that I want pastors telling their congregation whom to vote for. The point is that if one truly believes in the separation of church and state, then you must conclude that the government has no business intruding into the pulpit, censoring speech based on the tax code. A pastor has every right to tell his congregates who to vote for and those congregates in turn have every right to listen, ignore, attend, or not attend that church. The tax exempt status that existed for 162 years prior to Johnson's efforts was specifically designed to keep the government out of religion - removing the power to tax. And the Johnson Amendment revoked that protection in one fell swoop.

And as a political matter, let's face it - pastors with a leftist bent aren't the ones scared into silent submission. They flaunt their rejection of the Johnson Amendment, routinely. We've all seen the footage of Wright, of priests in California screaming about illegal immigration. They are unafraid. And Left, Right or center, it is time that every preacher have his First Amendment Rights officially restored.

I trust the American people. Let's just see where issues like abortion end up after a generation of pastors, preachers, deacons and bishops are allowed to do what the rest of us take for granted - speak.

Hmmm...

I hope you guys are proud of yourselves. Two posts for the whole month so far... nice.

I'm Spartacus

Andy Whitfield died yesterday of cancer.

Any casual follower of this Bund knows we're all huge Spartacus fans... And this is sad no matter what Andy did. The kid (yes, KID) was 39.

Rest in Peace, Andy.

An indelible mark...

That's what September 11 is... an indelible mark on our history.

There really aren't many, you know. July 4, 1776, and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. November 19, 1863, and the delivery of the Gettysburg Address by then President Abraham Lincoln. December 7, 1941, and the attack on Pearl Harbor, HI. November 22, 1963 and the assassination of JFK.

September 11, 2001, is recent enough to still resound in many of our memories... but distant enough to no longer dominate our thoughts, worries and daily routines. We all recall where we were, and what we were thinking on that tragic morning, yet our lives go on much as they did prior to that day.

I know that if anything good has ever come from that terrible morning, it was the lesson to all of humanity that EVIL exists in this world... it is a real, tangible, measurable threat to us all. It should also have shown us... in the first hours of footage, in fact... that real GOOD exists as well.

The evil I speak of isn't Islam, it is the sort of evil that convinces anyone that murder, terror and destruction can ever produce good results. It is the sort of evil that convinced Nazis that the "final solution" was an acceptable national policy. It is the sort of evil that convinces honest, hardworking men and women that they are fundamentally "better" than another person based only on their skin color, creed or ethnicity. It makes faith-filled people firmly believe that God (by any name) is on their side ONLY... and that He hates everyone else.

In a world dominated by relativism, 9/11 showed us that evil is real... it isn't "relative" and you can't deal with it "objectively" because it is never, EVER objective.

The good I speak of is evident in the manner in which our society (as a vast whole) has responded to the attacks and the evil that inspired them. Solidarity, unity and common purpose were evident as soon as the first plane crashed, and have been recognized and applauded each and every day since. We recognize the real heroes of 9/11... the real "martyrs" of the day, and not one of them were fighting against America.

I'm a bit torn by the prospect of seeing it all again tomorrow just as we all saw it ten years ago. It was an upsetting thing to watch then... but it can only be harder now, ten years later or not. Still, I recognize the necessity of remembering the day and the evil that caused as well as the good that has helped see us through it.

I'll watch. Gladly.

Ahhh...

Do you hear that? No?

Me either.

That, my friends, is the sound of an empty house.

Yep... first day of school here in NEPA. Nolan and Jake are off to learn their ABCs (and whatever other liberal crap that passes these days for education), Katey is at University, Liz is on her way to work... and I have the next two days off.

The morning went surprisingly well, actually. The whole house over-slept by about 20 minutes, but no one was crabby, fussy or belligerent and all got to where they needed to be on time, dressed and loaded with the necessities of the new school year.

Now, even more than bringing to mind the certainty of early afternoon naps on the couch and blissful quiet until 3 PM, this time of the year brings something else to my mind:

Football.

Jambo and our good friend John drafter the Cheesehead's roster this Monday past... and they did a hell of a job. I'm SO impressed, I thought I'd share the roster with all of you.

In no particular order (unless otherwise noted) here it is:

QB Aaron Rodgers, GB

QB Joe Flacco, BAL

RB Michael Turner, ATL

RB Ahmad Bradshaw, NYG

RB Michael Bush, OAK

RB Pierre Thomas, NO

WR Percy Harvin, MIN

WR Jeremy Maclin, PHI

WR Jordy Nelson, GB

WR Lee Evans, BAL

WR Mike Williams, TB

K Mason Crosby, GB

K David Akers, SF

Vikings DEF

Raiders DEF

Maclin and Harvin are studs, no matter who throws the ball, and Aaron Rodgers is the odds on favorite to lead his team to the next NFC Championship game. He's projected to have a 4k yard season, another 30 TDs and an average fantasy score (in our league, anyway) of more than 35 ppg. Thomas was a STEAL at where they picked him (9th round, I believe)... and YES, we know he'll share touches, but he is as good a receiver as he is a running back, and that is worth double points in our league.

In fact, Rodgers and Thomas square off in the season opener for both teams at Lambeau Field a week from Thursday. Potentially our two biggest scorers of the week playing on a Thursday night... we could start the season off with a BANG that game, huh? Brees and "da Saints" are looking to reassert themselves as Superbowl contenders (which I still feel they are) against the reigning champion Packers, and if the Packer defense is still tough as nails, Thomas will get his screen pass yardage all night long, with at least one TD before the game is over.

It was a good summer... but DAMN I love the fall.

Six years ago right now

My storage shed landed in my neighbor's yard, after going through my back fence.

The power went out too... And didn't come back for over a week.

Just about every casino on the Coast ended up damaged somehow, most beyond repair. There wasn't anything bigger than a brick left of Tullis Manor after the Grand barge landed on it... Or the old Tivoli Hotel after the Lady Luck barge bounced off it.

It feels longer than six years, truth be told.

"F--KING IRENE!"

I know... I'm not typically a fan of the profanity on the blog. I just keep associating this named storm with the "go signal" from the movie Blackhawk Down: Irene.

Rain total projections are now over 7 inches here in NEPA for Sunday, and that is going to make my old, leaky basement a very wet area, I can tell you. Liz and I just got all the essentials off the floor and as high as possible, placing the pump in the needed area and getting all ready for the inevitable rising water. We can handle about 150 gallons an hour... but more than that and we're fighting a losing battle. More than 20" of rainwater in the basement, and the furnace is flooded. It's not cold enough to need the furnace, but the added expense of having it cleaned and serviced is supremely inconvenient right now.

Couple this with the near certainty that we will lose power for at least a portion of the storm (meaning the pump won't run at all), and you see the problem shaping up before our eyes. Our power seems intimately tied with that of northern New Jersey (not sure if this is true, or why, if it is true), and they are expecting rolling outages of several hours of blackout, at least. We can weather the outages... we have water, oil, candles and food galore... but the pump needs juice to run.

I know... how can a Katrina survivor NOT have a generator? I just never seem to have the scratch to buy one.

Fun, fun... I move all this way to AVOID hurricanes, and here I am: prepping again for another storm.

{sigh}