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"Campaigning from the pulpit: Why not?" USA Today
Monday's USA Today contained an op-ed by University of Notre Dame Professor Rick Garnett on the inevitability that preaching will touch on politics, and the impropriety of the IRS threatening penalties for such preaching. It includes this excerpt:
Religious faith makes claims, for better or worse, that push the believer inexorably toward charitable and conscientious engagement in "public life." To the extent that religion purports to provide insight into human nature and relations, it necessarily speaks to politics. We best respect each other through honest dialogue by making arguments that reflect our beliefs, not by censoring ourselves or insisting that religious believers translate their commitments into focus-group jargon or cost-benefit analysis.
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It is the regulation of the churches' expression, and not their expression itself, that should raise constitutional red flags. Religious institutions are not above the law, but a government that respects the separation of church and state should be extremely wary of telling churches and religious believers whether they are being appropriately "religious" or excessively "political" or partisan. Churches and congregants, not bureaucrats and courts, must define the perimeter of religion's challenges.
Click here for the full op-ed.