IRS: Churches can’t pray for Bush [or any candidate] victory
Posted on October 28th, 2004 by Anthony K. Valley
And the IRS says that tax-exempt Churches cannot pray for a particular candidate to win an election.
In a letter of clarification requested by a traveling minister, the Internal Revenue Service has declared people gathered in tax-exempt churches can’t pray for President Bush to win the election on Tuesday.
The ruling comes in response to a request by the Christian Defense Coalition, which is in the midst of a 15-day prayer tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the organization, had planned to lead in prayer for a Bush victory during evening services in each town. Though he had hoped to hold the services in churches, Mahoney says he has used American Legion halls, hotels and other venues pending a clarification from the IRS.
The American Center for Law and Justice wrote the letter to the IRS on behalf of the Mahoney’s group, explaining that the pastor planned to “offer prayer during the evening services in the churches he visits that God grants President Bush four more years as president and that Senator Kerry does not become president.”
“This is rank censorship,” Mahoney told WND. “If churches felt compelled to pray for Senator Kerry, they should be able to do that, too.
p. [ Full Story @ WorldNetDaily.com ]
p(small). Source: WorldNetDaily.com © 2004 WorldNetDaily
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Filed under: Church and State
the issue is not so much the right to pray for a particular candidate, but the implication that that means that that candidate automatically deserves our vote, as when a pastor, either from the pulpit or on the tv, says or implies that the congregation should vote in a particular way. our votes are private; that is a bedrock principal in this country, and therefore we should be careful the uses to which our public prayers may be put. i am reminded of the parable of the rich and powerful man who prayed aloud in the temple, making certain that all the congregation watched as he paid his tithe. tomorrow, we should, rather, be like the quiet man, having educated ourselves on the issues and the candidates, rather than washing our faces and combing our hair as he did, go alone into our booth, say our prayers silently and earnestly, and pay our nation the tithe of our vote. only in this way may jesus stand in that booth with us.