PASTORS CHUCKLE AS ATHEISTS FIGHT FEDS FOR THEM
Dispute wraps up free speech, religious rights and politics
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has been given a green light to move ahead with its lawsuit asserting that the Internal Revenue Service has failed to audit churches whose ministers preach politics from the pulpit.
But the pastors are happy with the move, because they’ve been trying to arrange to bring that very battle to court for several years now.
The pastors, in an initiative organized by the Alliance Defending Freedom called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, have been preaching what they believe the Bible says regarding current political issues and then informing the IRS of their actions. They’ve been trying to convince the IRS to bring a case against one of the ministers.
They believe the IRS intentionally is ignoring their statements to avoid a confrontation over the 1954 Johnson Amendment that purports to silence some speech in the United States through IRS regulations.
The ministers believe that when the issue is decided, the IRS will lose the argument, and the agency wants to avoid that.
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