I just found out that the IRS has launched an investigation into Senator Obama’s appearance before the UCC’s General Synod last summer.
It seems that someone running an anti UCC web log thinks he is entitled to a place on the official church blog. Rev. Chuck Currie has more on his personal blog.
This is another obvious example of how the Busheviki have perverted the institutions of government to political purposes.
It is also part of a larger attack on churches by conservative groups, such as Howard Ahmanson’s subversion of the Episcopal church or Scaife’s subversion of the Methodist Church.
It is important to understand the conservative takeover of the US is not merely a question of politicians and a few stink tanks, it is relentless and is aimed at every institution in American society. They are like communists in that respect. Everything is subverted to their cause.
And isn’t it a stunning note that the Right Wing Lunatic churches are NOT being investigated by the IRS. Like McCain’s “spiritual guide” Rod Parsley and his Mega Church. There are dozens of these Republican bastions of preachers who preach politics from their pulpits with things equally as offensive as the Rev. Wright ever said.
Just like targeting Spitzer but ignoring all the Republican office holders who have far greater crimes to their credit. . .funny how all that works, isn’t it.
I’ve long advocated removing the tax-free status of churches. Let them be political institutions; I’m fine with that. What I’m not okay with is that they are essentially giant money-laundering operations funneling billions of dollars into what are at root political organizations.
That would wipe out almost every urban church. Congregations of less than 2,000, almost all churches, would not be able to pay property taxes along with the rest of the expenses of running a church. These are important cultural institutions, they may not be important to you, but they are important.
And they are not political, they are spiritual.
There’s a lot to this issue. There are some indications that the IRS is being used to attack non-profits, much in the same way that Nixon attempted to use the IRS to attack his enemies in the 60s.
Perhaps the bigger issue is the spread of Reconstructionist and Dominionist ideas among right-wing churches. The following article is a good primer on the subject.
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisrec.html