Friday, September 26, 2008

Protesting preachers: More political clout for conservatives

Great. Conservative preachers decide to "protest" (which I thought was un-American to their way of thinking, by the way) the fact that they can't advocate for a political candidate without paying taxes like the rest of us. One more example of the right-wing turning the culture and meaning of protest on its head.
clipped from www.nytimes.com
Defying a federal tax law they consider unjust, 33 ministers across the country will take to their pulpits this Sunday and publicly endorse a candidate for president.
They plan to then send copies of their sermons to the Internal Revenue Service, hoping to provoke a challenge to a law that bars religious organizations and other nonprofits that accept tax-deductible contributions from involvement in partisan political campaigns.
Organizers said they wanted a range of clergy of various faiths and political persuasions to join the protest, but acknowledged that the participants might be “weighted” toward the conservative end of the spectrum and more likely to support the Republican candidate
The Rev. Barry Lynn, of Americans United, said of the protest on Sunday: “They act like this is a massive act of civil disobedience, but this is not like sitting in at a lunch counter. This is trying to change the law to give certain conservative churches even more political clout.”
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