Earlier this month, hundreds of pastors across the nation participated in the Alliance Defense Fund’s annual “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” during which they openly endorsed or opposed political candidates from their pulpits in a direct challenge to the IRS.
Among those participating pastors was Bishop Harry Jackson who, along with Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, was featured in a short video from Odyssey Networks about the effort.
In the video, Jackson provided a rather unique explanation for his involvement in opposing IRS regulations that prohibit churches from engaging in politics, asserting that such regulations were put in place in order to prevent black churches from speaking out in support of the civil rights movement:
Of course, the reality is that the prohibitions grew out of an amendment inserted into the tax code by Senator Lyndon Johnson in 1954 (years before he became president) in response to attacks on him by tax-exempt groups that accused him of being soft of Communism during his re-election campaign.
If Jackson is going to be involved in leading this challenge to the IRS, it might be helpful for him to actually know what he is talking about.
