As most politically active Americans focused on the financial system bailout legislation over the weekend, 33 Christian ministers took the occasion of Sunday sermons to defy federal tax regulations prohibiting endorsement of political candidates by churches and other tax-exempt organizations. The immediate object of this protest was to pretty clearly demand the election of John McCain as a religious obligation because of Barack Obama's position on abortion and same-sex relationships.
Organized by a Christian Right group called the Alliance Defense Fund, the Sunday action drew attention for its provocative nature. Churches and other religious (and for that matter, charitable) groups have generally been given broad latitude by the IRS to make or support political pronouncements so long as they avoid direct statements about candidate preferences.
But take a step back and look at the protest from a broader lens, and its audacity becomes much more apparent. These ministers are essentially (and in most cases, explicitly) taking a prophetic stance that stopping abortion and fighting same-sex relationships are so supremely important and so clearly required by divine commandment that all other issues of war, peace, justice, prosperity, and ethics must be subordinated, along with the presumed legitimacy of American society, including its courts. Moreover, all U.S. taxpayers must subsidize this prophetic stance by providing the protesting organizations with a continuing exemption from taxation for all their properties, and for contributions made to them.
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