The Observation Deck

Two of my favorite topics, but do they belong together? I have no problem with churches urging us to assit the poor, the hungry, the sick, the loney, that seems to be a major tenent of the bible and as long as you don't attribute it to a specific political party I think you are on safe ground encouraging parishoners to take positive steps for people.

Then you get to the more controversial issues, Capital Punishment, Abortion, Homosexuality, War and I guess churches do have rights to have opions on those issues as well.

Which leads to the dilema, of does a church have the right to tell you who to vote for and does any party have a monopoly on religion?

I've been reading about several Catholic Priests refusing to give communion to their parishoners if they voted for Obama without going to confession first, because he was pro choice, but he was also more anti-war. and wanted to help the poor more. I know also that some bishops say this isn't right. What do you think?

I have also been reading in the other thread about the Mormon Church and Proposition 8.

Does a church have a right to take a stand for or against a candidate?

Does a church have a right to take a stand for or against a issue? And lets think about this with a issue less controversial than abortion or homosexulaity, but what about civil rights? Martin Luther King Jr. and many other prominent religious leaders marched in support of civil rights.

Does a church have a right to donate the money you donated to them to a candidate or an issue?

Should a church be associated with a political party and if so which one? and why?

These are tough questions, I would normally disagree with a church taking a stand for or against a candidate, but I would have less of an argument about an issue.

I don't think a church should donate money to a political candidate or cause and I really don't think a church should be considered Democrati or Republican.

But that is my believes, what do you think?

While I am not a religious person, I do feel that it should be valued because of its importance to many people.

However, I think that it would be detrimental to allow for religion to hold the same sway over the running of the country as politics. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Religion is also too divisive. Which religion would be selected to hold sway? Wouldn't that just breed contempt?

It would. Politics speaks for everyone, and therefore should be independent of religion entirely.

If you look back in history, most wars were started for religious reasons.

I think a church can certainly tell it's members through sermons where it stands on things like abortion or homosexuality. And those members can decide for themselves how they feel on those issues. But where churches cross the line is by telling members to go vote for so in so, or vote this way on this ballot initiatives and the especially cross the line when they donate church funds to specific political issues or candidates. I do not believe religion has a role in government because we can't all agree on what religion is right or wrong. We have that wonderful thing in this country called freedom of religion. We are privileged to be able to worship where we wish or not worship at all and when churches start making legislation they only serve their specific congregations. I don't want my church donating my donations to political purposes, I just think if the do that then they are taking away other peoples rights. I don't want anything like sharia law in this country and that is what happens when politics and religion mix.

Something in my longer post prevents me from posting the whole thing. A very strange bug....

There is a movement going to strip the LDS church of their tax exempt status. If you want to join the cause, try this (as I did another way that seems to interfere with Deck posting)....

http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Revoke_LDS_tax_status

IMO churches should be free to exercise their freedom of religion, speech and the right to assemble and protest, etc. That includes issues and candidates. That being said, I think that this would generally hurt the churches if more of them did more campaigning for individuals or parties. It would drive some folks away - whether or not they agreed with the church's positions. I think one reason the US remains more religious than many other nations is the wide berth given to politics and religion. Both get polluted if there's too much mixing.

Jeff, no problem with churches having the privileges you mention. As long as they pay taxes just like the rest of us who enjoy the same privileges....

Tim Liston wrote:Jeff, no problem with churches having the privileges you mention. As long as they pay taxes just like the rest of us who enjoy the same privileges....

Amen!!