Back in 2008, the Alliance Defense Fund launched its “Pulpit Initiative” designed to encourage pastors to openly endorse political candidates in their sermons and a direct challenge to IRS restrictions. And ADF is planning to do it again this year right before the elections.
But not all right-wing legal groups are so bold, which is why Mat Staver and the Liberty Counsel partnered with the Florida Family Policy Council and Christian Coalition of South Florida for a series of “Pastors’ Freedom Forums” to explain just what churches legally can and cannot do.
But you have to admit that Staver doesn’t seem particularly concerned about the possibility that they might lose their tax exemption if they cross that line, because God will always provide for them:
“So why do we think God depends upon tax deductibility to keep the Gospel going?” Staver asked. “We enjoy tax deductibility now, and that’s fine; but if we ever have to give it up, so what! God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. His resources aren’t limited.”
And while Staver was telling pastors not to worry about losing their tax-exept status, Liberty Counsel’s Harry Mihet was urging them to stand up adn fight in the “time of war” or else watch America turn into “communist Romania”:
“Dear brothers and sisters, this is a time of war,” Mihet said. “As citizens of this country and as citizens of the Kingdom, we are engaged in a battle for the very heart and soul of our nation against people and groups that are fighting tirelessly day and night to radically transform our country—to change it from the land of the free into a place that is without God, without values, a place where anything goes except genuine Christianity—to a place that looks more and more like communist Romania.”
Mihet said it would be tragic for “future generations” if the Americans don’t “show up” and, as a result, the battle is lost. “What a powerful testimony to the might of the God we serve it would be if men and women of God would stand up and rise to this challenge and join in the fight for the soul of our country,” he said.
