Light Brings Salt
Volume 2, Issue 30 August 15, 2004
Dedicated to the
Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
The
Secular Left Goes on the Attack
by Albert Mohler
Are you ready for
an army of secularists to invade the sanctuary of your church, looking for
evidence to use in complaints to the Internal Revenue Service? That is a
question now faced by evangelical pastors and many Catholic priests as critical
issues of moral importance are preached in the pulpit. Developments in
The First Baptist
Church of Springdale, Arkansas traditionally holds a festive service featuring
patriotic themes to commemorate the Fourth of July. This past July 4, the
church held its service, which featured a multi-media presentation that
included a message preached by Dr. Ronnie Floyd, the church's pastor. Within
days, controversy erupted and a group known as Americans United for Separation
of Church and State had filed a formal complaint with the IRS, charging the
church with violating the IRS code and thus threatening its tax-exempt status.
What was Dr.
Floyd's offense? In the course of his message, which looked to the moral state
of the nation, the pastor gave particular attention to the most pressing moral
issues of the day, including same-sex marriage and abortion. Underlining the
Christian's responsibility in the civic sphere, Dr. Floyd pointed to the
upcoming presidential election with a specific consideration of these moral
issues.
As Floyd told his
congregation, "One candidate believes that marriage is a God-ordained
institution between one man and one woman and has proposed a constitutional
amendment protecting marriage." In contrast, "the other candidate was
one of only 14 senators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act of
1996." As the pastor described the first candidate's position, an image of
President George W. Bush appeared on a large television screen. When the second
candidate was mentioned, a photograph of Senator John Kerry appeared on the
same screen.
The pastor also
gave major attention to the issue of abortion, crediting President Bush with
signing the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and criticizing Senator
Kerry for his opposition to the measure. Of course, the president's signature
and Senator Kerry's vote are matters of historical fact. Furthermore, First
Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas--the state's largest congregation--has
well-known and cherished convictions on behalf of the unborn and in defense of
marriage. There can be no doubt that church members favored passage of the
partial-birth abortion ban and celebrated its signing into law. Nevertheless,
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State alleges that Dr. Floyd
violated the tax code and the group called for the IRS to investigate the
church.
Note carefully--the
pastor did not call for his congregation to vote for one candidate or the
other, nor was there any endorsement of either candidate by name. The pastor
told his church that "this will be one of the most critical elections in
Where is the
scandal in this? In a letter to the Internal Revenue Service, Americans United
Executive Director Barry Lynn argued that Floyd was clearly, if indirectly,
endorsing President Bush. In his July 20 letter to the IRS,
In 1954, the IRS
code was modified to include a prohibition of partisan political activity on
the part of churches. This effort, led by Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, was
inserted in an effort to silence one of Johnson's opponents. The result has
been the constant danger of intimidation churches now face. The church must
never become a political action committee or an arm of the state. The church's
message is first and foremost a Gospel message. Nevertheless, that Gospel
message comes with the full content of biblical Christianity, and the Bible's
teachings have political consequences. While there is no sign that the IRS is
plotting a hostile invasion of the churches, launching investigations of
congregations and religious institutions, the current regulations put the
agency in the position of making legal evaluations of pulpit proclamations.
This is certainly not what the Founding Fathers had in mind.
Ronnie Floyd
refuses to back down. The pastor insists that his message, and the totality of
the worship service, were extensions of his pulpit ministry and biblical
teaching. "I have never told anyone who to vote for, and I'm not going to
start now," he stated in his sermon. At the same time, he castigated
evangelicals for failing to vote in the 2000 elections. "Why would
evangelical Christians stay at home and not practice the responsibility of
Christian stewardship, when God's word, which we say we believe, calls us to
stand up in our citizenship?," he asked.
The church--which
telecasts its services nationwide--is defending its pastor and his message.
"We just feel like we've done what we're supposed to do, and we're going
to stick to our guns," said Alan Damron, the
church's associate pastor.
The IRS has
declined to comment on the case. Spokesman David Stell
told The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that such cases are judged on the
basis of the particular circumstances of each disputed incident.
The IRS publishes a
lengthy set of guidelines addressed to churches and religious organizations.
Congregations "are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly
participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in
opposition to) any candidate for elected public office," the guidelines
state. The very fact that numerous pages of commentary are required to explain
the IRS code indicates the complexity of the questions raised. Churches are
allowed to promote voter-education activities and to publish voter-education
guides so long as these are done in a "nonpartisan" manner. Of
course, "nonpartisan" is often in the eye of the beholder.
The difficulty of
all this is, of course, when the church's moral teaching based on biblical
authority is precisely at stake in the electoral process. This is certainly the
case in the contemporary struggle over the question of same-sex marriage. No
gospel church can be a disinterested party in this debate, nor can it forfeit
its responsibility to arm its members with the full measure of biblical
conviction and ample encouragement to take these convictions into the
marketplace of ideas and the voting booth.
The effort launched
by Americans United amounts to a campaign of intimidation directed at
evangelical pastors and Catholic priests. The group, which bills itself as
"a religious liberty watchdog group based in
In the
That intimidation
is very real. As a legislative remedy to this threat, Rep. Walter Jones [R-NC]
has introduced the "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act."
The bill would revise the IRS code to remove the threatening language concerning
churches and religious organizations. Thus far, the bill has been stalled in
the House of Representatives. If the secular left continues to act like the
thought police and harass churches, that may soon
change.
Even if the IRS
restrictions on churches are removed, this does not mean that preachers and
congregations should turn themselves into political operatives and partisan
platforms. The political temptation is never far from sight, but the church
must maintain its role as the vessel of the Gospel--even when it must also
speak prophetically to the culture and the political process.
All this is the
latest sign that the Culture War is heating up--and fast. The tactics of
Americans United and similar groups are tantamount to a secularist Gestapo,
seeking to intimidate pastors from fulfilling their responsibility in the
pulpit. Churches and religious organizations must be careful to avoid the
direct endorsement of political candidates. Nevertheless, the church will lose
its soul and abandon its gospel if it lays down in subservience to the
secularist agenda. For now, the real risk is intimidation. Nevertheless, if
Americans United and its allies have their way, intimidation is just the tip of
the iceberg.