Iowa pastor preaches politics to oust 3 justices who backed gay marriage

[FBaggins]

Let's hope that his prayer is answered.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The Rev. Cary K. Gordon has a prayer he recites as he campaigns against the three Iowa Supreme Court justices who are up for retention in next month's election. "Dear God," he says, "please allow the IRS to attack my church, so I can take them all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court."

Gordon, an associate pastor at Cornerstone World Outreach in Sioux City, says he will defy federal law this month when he urges the congregation to vote to not retain the three justices, who participated in a unanimous ruling that allowed same-sex couples to wed. His mass mailing to 1,000 church leaders in September prompted one national religious liberty group to file a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service.

Advocates of the separation of church and state and some religious leaders say Gordon's plan is illegal, immoral and an attempt to falsely frame his dispute as a freedom-of-speech violation. The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State in Washington, D.C., called Gordon's actions one of the most outrageous attempts to politicize a church that he has ever seen.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-10-14-iowapastor13_ST_N.htm

[xchrom]

1. Thank you rev Lynn. Nt

[FBaggins]

2. It turns out he wasn't alone.

I can't believe I didn't hear about this when it happened, but last month there was a "pulpit freedom sunday" where 100-150 pastors not only made voting recommendations from the pulpit, they sent their sermons to the IRS in advance and dared them to do something about it... and this is the third election they've held the event.

Reportedly, the IRS began an audit a couple years ago of one of the first churches to do this... and then dropped it without comment ten months later.

[FSogol]

3. Remove their tax exemption. n/t

[rbixby]

4. The thing that bothers me most about this

Is that if you don't pay taxes, you shouldn't have any say in any political races. If they want to get into politics, then give up that tax exempt status and say whatever you want. Oh yeah that's right, most churches would go belly up if they had to pay taxes.