Widening the Divide

This right here is one reason Hillary Clinton lost the election.  Faux News and other right-wing outlets have, for years, been telling Christians that all "liberals" want to do is ban the Bible and make Christianity illegal.  The more people on the left say stuff like this, the more they push people to the right-wing.

Back in 2004, I can remember people who worked for the Kerry campaign talk about going to West Virginia and talking to people there.  The biggest obstacle they faced?  The rhetoric of "Kerry wants to ban the Bible."  The very same people who wanted strong Unions and a cleaner environment voted for George W. Bush because of ideas like this on AM radio from the Rush Limbaughs of the right-wing.

When I hear friends I normally agree with say "outlaw Christianity", "outlaw religion" or "tax the churches" I cringe.  I cringe because those words mean the people who have an interest in the issues of Progressives will never listen as long as they hear that in the same breath.

Churches do a lot of good.  Many churches run soup kitchens, food pantries, thrift shops, and day-cares.  Many of these same churches aren't the mega-churches you see on television.  Most are small churches that struggle to pay their expenses every year.  Taxes would be the death-knell for them, and all you would be left with are the mega-churches that don't do as much for the community.

What constitutes "preaching politics" anyway?  As a friend pointed out, non-profits are all under the same umbrella.  Which means if you are going to change the law for churches, you are going to change them for all non-profits.

 I don't think people understand what's in the law now regarding churches and non-church 501(c)(3) orgs. Churches and charities can espouse causes all they want, they can even encourage support for specific bills, and they can encourage people to register to vote and go vote, they can talk about what issues people should consider when they vote... they just cannot say "VOTE FOR JOHN SMITH" or contribute to John Smith's campaign, or say "VOTE FOR THE XYZ PARTY" or contribute to the XYZ Party.

Don't want AARP to be able to advocate for senior citizens? For Medicare? Social Security?

Don't want the American Cancer Society to advocate for research funds for cancer treatments?

Don't want the Humane Society to advocate for more protection of animals?

Silence the churches and you will be silencing them.

If a church does violate the law, they should lose their non-profit status.  However, by feeding the fears that have been repeated over and over again by right-wing talk radio and Faux News, you are widening what is dividing us in this country.  Not only that, but you will lose the Christians who are on the same side.  There are a number of Christian voices speaking out for Progressive causes.  On Facebook you can find groups such as The Christian Left, Unfundamentalist Christians, and others.  They talk there of reclaiming Christianity from the media image of Christians that's been created.  I can link to Pastors who preach from the pulpit quite differently than what you hear out of the right-wing prosperity Gospel preachers.  And you will lose these people with messages like this.

There is separation of Church and State, and then there is using taxation as a weapon to silence ideas you don't like.  We usually think of that as a tool of the right-wing, but on the left they can be just as good at it when it suits them.