Given recent revelations that the IRS has been targeting people of faith, people who are conservative and people who support Israel Mike Huckabee suggested at a pastors conference June 10th that it might be time for churches to give up tax exempt status in order for Pastors to be able to preach freely rather than be limited by the requirements that non-profit status imposes.
ABP News reports Huckabee’s remarks:
“You may not clap real loud for this, but at least hear me out and think about it and pray about it,” he said. “I think we need to recognize that it may be time to quit worrying so much about the tax code and start thinking more about the truth of the living God, and if it means that we give up tax-exempt status and tax deductions for charitable contributions, I choose freedom more than I choose a deduction that the government gives me permission to say what God wants me to say.”
Advertisement - story continues below
Huckabee said it may be time for churches to say: “Keep your deductions. Keep the exemptions. We stand more faithful with what God would have us to say, and we choose our freedom more than our financial benefit.”
Stop the censors, sign up to get today's top stories delivered right to your inbox
“I must be very honest and tell you; I have never given a dime to God that I gave solely because it was a tax decision,” Huckabee said. “And if you’ve got people in your church who are giving because it’s a tax decision, then they ought to keep their money. They need it more than God does.”
Separately Archbishop Charles J. Chaput who leads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia writes:
Advertisement - story continues below
“The current IRS scandal – involving IRS targeting of “conservative” organizations – also has a religious dimension. Selective IRS pressure on religious individuals and organizations has drawn very little media attention. Nor should we expect any, any time soon. But the latest IRS ugliness is a hint of the treatment disfavored religious groups may face in the future, if we sleep through the national discussion of religious liberty now.
The day when Americans could take the Founders’ understanding of religious freedom as a given is over. We need to wake up.”
What do you think, is the First amendment under attack by the current government? Should churches give up tax-exempt status so that Pastors can speak freely from the pulpit?
Comment below…
Vallie Zwigart says
some really interesting info , well written and loosely user genial.
Valorie Younts says
I think that a foreclosed can have a major effect on the client’s life. House foreclosures can have a 7 to several years negative impact on a client’s credit report. The borrower who’s applied for home financing or any loans even, knows that the worse credit rating can be, the more difficult it is to acquire a decent mortgage loan. In addition, it might affect a borrower’s chance to find a respectable place to let or hire, if that gets the alternative property solution. Thanks for your blog post.