I don't think the govt should tell ministers what they can say from the pulpit, but the only reason they are in this situation is because they get tax breaks. I think we should get rid of all the tax breaks ("render under Caesar") and the priests should be free to say whatever they want (although I do agree that a good member of the clergy should be able to both relate to and challenge most any member of the congregation, and strident politics from the pulpit often turns people off).

Here are a bunch of churches who WANT to pick a fight with the IRS over the election restriction on non-profits.

Get this. They are pissed that the IRS won't attack them.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44741162/ns/politics-the_new_york_times/#.Tody5nO4J-U

Anonymous wrote:Christianity is a very submissive religion. That is one of the reasons Romans descided to make the empire christian.
Submit to authorities etc.
Priests did not say anything when women were fighting for the right to vote, slavery was alive and well until the civil war etc, etc.

Too bad you only had that one history class in 6th grade....

Anonymous wrote:Ministers are not politicians
At church they should preach what is in the bible

Right, because politics have nothing to do with what's in the bible....

Christianity is a very submissive religion. That is one of the reasons Romans descided to make the empire christian.
Submit to authorities etc.
Priests did not say anything when women were fighting for the right to vote, slavery was alive and well until the civil war etc, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

I happen to think that putting that much emphasis on abortion versus many other religious issues is strange, but that's more an issue of that priest's interpretation of things, and I assume that you can priest shop to some degree.

No. Abortion is not a matter of a "priest's interpretation."

I didn't say it was; I said that the relative weighting of it was. It's one sentence, so I would hope you could read it better.

What is your point, anyway?

I happen to think that putting that much emphasis on abortion versus many other religious issues is strange, but that's more an issue of that priest's interpretation of things, and I assume that you can priest shop to some degree.

No. Abortion is not a matter of a "priest's interpretation."

TheManWithAUsername wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In most cases I think politics is too specific for religious leaders to weigh in on. A priest can say that I have a moral obligation to my fellow man, he can counsel charity, but should he say that the Lord prefers universal health care as the proper form of Christian obligation?

Usually they're not taking a stand on something that specific, are they? I think pursuant to a religion they could certainly say, "Vote for these guys b/c they try to help the poor," or "Vote for these guys b/c they try to protect the unborn."

I have heard priests say that we should pray for our national leaders to enact universal health care.