Freedom Sunday

For decades, churchgoers and pastors alike have cowered in fear of the IRS coming down on them for whispering anything political anywhere near a church. Yet I saw President Clinton, the night before his re-election in a church, where the pastor put his arm around him saying, "Let's get political". One and only one church has been brought up on charges of getting political, because it ran an anti-Clinton ad in it's newspaper during the elections. This is gross misuse of the IRS for partisan purposes, but that was the hallmark of the Clinton administration.
Thirty pastors around the nation have had enough! They are endorsing a candidate from the pulpit this Sunday and daring the IRS to come after them. They are doing things the Democrat way, by civil disobedience leading to arrests, then a court case. They are calling it "Freedom Sunday".
Good for them! I hope some Catholic priests follow, remembering that it was the churches which began both the abolition and civil rights movements. Fr Neuhaus said on his comments about Archbishop Chaput's new book, "Render Unto Ceasar" that if people of faith do not express their views in the public square, it is dangerous to our democracy.
The entire prohibition of mixing politics and religion came not from the Founding Fathers who held church services in the Capitol Buidling, but from LBJ who wanted to silence Baptist preachers who opposed his election. It's time to speak out, people of God, and stand for truth, regardless of the consequences.