Right-wing junk religionists are at their beloved game of trying to undermine separation of church and state, which protects both church and state

"When religious leaders endorse candidates from the pulpit, they weaken both the sanctity of religion and the integrity of democracy. The IRS allows – and the Interfaith Alliance encourages – religious leaders to speak out on the important political issues of the day, but when clergy endorse specific candidates or parties in their official capacity, they abuse their pastoral authority."

--C. Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance

"The section of the tax code barring nonprofits from intervening in political campaigns has long frustrated clergy. Many ministers consider the provision an inappropriate government intrusion, blocking the duty of clergy to advise congregants."

--from a Wall Street Journal report on the Alliance Defense Fund's campaign to get ministers "to preach about election candidates this September, defying a tax law that bars churches from engaging in politics"

"I have yet to meet a pastor who feels this way. Responsible ministers understand that the First Amendment does as much or more to protect their congregations than it does to muffle their voice. More important, they understand that the mission of the church is to be the church, not an adjunct to a political movement."

--Pastor Dan, in his Street Prophets commentary today on the ADF's "double-dog daring churches to step over the line of Separation"

It took me a long time to understand that religious people aren't per se better or worse than other people. Just as there are folks whose faith inspires them to lead lives of inspiring morality and humanity, there are those who use religion as a tool, or even a weapon, to secure power or privilege or just make themselves feel better than other folks (and of course the unfortunate folks who take guidance from them, who just want to be told how to live their lives).

This shouldn't be all that surprising, of course. People are what people are. I'm guessing you find just about the same mix in most any walk of life. It was a heck of a shock for me to discover, as a youthful devotee of the fine arts, that the people on the inside of the arts profession, far from representing a higher order of being, incarnate the same mix of the good, the bad, and the in-between.

There's not much doubt in my mind that the folks at the forefront of America's epidemic of junk religion would have been bad people whatever career path they chose. It just strikes my delicate sensibilities as that much more reprehensible when they practice their evil in the name of "morality" or "decency"--or, bluntly, in the name of God. By the same token, the religious folk who are driven to work for the spiritual and practical well-being and betterment of their fellow homo sapiens would have been admirable human beings however their lives had been charted.

Today our good friend Pastor Dan of Street Prophets latched on to an important story about an outrageous abuse of this country's famous religious tolerance, a carefully worked-out plan by junk religionists to try to blast a hole in the separation of church and state (which as Pastor Dan likes to point out serves the best interests of both churches and the state):

Alliance Defense Fund: We Must Destroy First Amendment In Order To Save It
by pastordan
Fri May 09, 2008 at 10:04:17 AM PDT

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the ADF is double-dog daring churches to step over the line of Separation:

A conservative legal-advocacy group is enlisting ministers to use their pulpits to preach about election candidates this September, defying a tax law that bars churches from engaging in politics.

Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., nonprofit, is hoping at least one sermon will prompt the Internal Revenue Service to investigate, sparking a court battle that could get the tax provision declared unconstitutional. Alliance lawyers represent churches in disputes with the IRS over alleged partisan activity.

The action marks the latest attempt by a conservative organization to help clergy harness their congregations to sway elections. The protest is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 28, a little more than a month before the general election, in a year when religious concerns and preachers have been a regular part of the political debate.

...

Alliance fund staff hopes 40 or 50 houses of worship will take part in the action, including clerics from liberal-leaning congregations. About 80 ministers have expressed interest, including one Catholic priest, says Erik Stanley, the Alliance's senior legal counsel.

Translation: we're hoping to partisanize conservative congregations, since who knows how many Justice Sundays did squat for us before. The law is quite settled here, and IRS complaints take a long time to settle, much less litigate. So the legal effect for 2006 is basically nil, meaning this is a political maneuver.

Oh yeah, and this is crap:

The section of the tax code barring nonprofits from intervening in political campaigns has long frustrated clergy. Many ministers consider the provision an inappropriate government intrusion, blocking the duty of clergy to advise congregants.

I have yet to meet a pastor who feels this way. Responsible ministers understand that the First Amendment does as much or more to protect their congregations than it does to muffle their voice. More important, they understand that the mission of the church is to be the church, not an adjunct to a political movement.

C. Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance had a statement on the ADF's move that seems on-the-money:

Houses of worship belong to divine authority – they are not the property of either political party. The Alliance Defense Fund’s call for pastors to break the law represents the height of irresponsibility. They are putting churches across the country unnecessarily at risk to costly and time-consuming investigations that could result in harsh financial penalties. Putting churches in legal and financial jeopardy seems a bizarre way of defending religious freedom, which the ADF claims to defend.

But there is an even greater issue at stake in this campaign than violating the law. When religious leaders endorse candidates from the pulpit, they weaken both the sanctity of religion and the integrity of democracy. The IRS allows – and the Interfaith Alliance encourages – religious leaders to speak out on the important political issues of the day, but when clergy endorse specific candidates or parties in their official capacity, they abuse their pastoral authority.

Damn skippy.

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