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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Saturday, August 2, 2014

IRS monitors churches’ sermons and prayers























More Change Than Hope
  • If you listen carefully, in the dead of night you can hear the jackboots.
  • Now we see the Fascist IRS monitoring sermons and homilies in church for language that has not been approved by the all powerful Big Brother State.
  • The Constitution has no meaning to the scum running Washington D.C.


You would think that with the current targeting scandal ripping through the IRS, the agency might want to lie low for a while, especially the non-profit division.  Not so much.

It seems the IRS has decided that if it can’t get away with violating the 1st Amendment rights of political groups, it should take a crack at violating the Constitutional rights of religious groups.

From IBD:
A lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) asserted that the Internal Revenue Service ignored complaints about churches’ violating their tax-exempt status by routinely promoting political issues, legislation and candidates from the pulpit. 
The FFRF has temporarily withdrawn its suit in return for the IRS’s agreement to monitor sermons and homilies for proscribed speech that the foundation believes includes things like condemnation of gay marriage and criticism of ObamaCare for its contraceptive mandate.  
The irony of this agreement is that it’s being enforced by the same Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division of the IRS that was once headed by Lois “Fifth Amendment” Lerner and that openly targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups. 
Among the questions that the IRS asked of those targeted groups was the content of their prayers. 
Those who objected to the monitoring of what is said and done in mosques for signs of terrorist activity have no problem with this one, though monitoring what’s said in houses of worship is a clear violation of the First Amendment. Can you say “chilling effect”? 
Congress can make no laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion. So it’s not clear where the IRS gets off doing just that by spying on religious leaders lest they comment on issues and activities by government that are contrary to or impose on their religious consciences. Our country was founded by people fleeing this kind of government-monitored and mandated theology last practiced in the Soviet Union. 
The FFRF cites as its authority the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which states that tax-exempt groups cannot endorse candidates. A 2009 court ruling determined that the IRS must staff someone to monitor church politicking.
read the rest

Thanks to Poor Richard's News.


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