Politically Overt Churches Taking Up Valuable Space on Telegraph

On November 12th, six days after election day, I drove by a Catholic Church on Telegraph. The sign said, "Follow God's Authority, Not Man's Majority."

It appears they want it both ways because in the weeks leading up to the election their political signs clearly advocated for "man's majority."

The signs bear an eerie resemblance to Sinclair Lewis's (or someone else's) prediction of fascism in the United States; full of eagles, flags, and crosses and then planted along streets all around the county.

I think their overtly political actions and signs stink of hypocrisy and dishonesty. As the old cliche goes, they want their cake and they want to eat it too. In the weeks leading up to the election, their politics, while maybe not illegal, is certainly intellectually dishonest.

Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less.

A friend of mine had this to say: 

"The deal here in America (something that the RC [Roman Catholic] church has always had problems with) is that their tax exempt status means they must keep their weird hats and noses out of partisan politics. The state asks nothing of them and they have no say is what that policy boils down to and it is not only a good policy but a sound one. It doesn't work, however, when authoritarian religious groups like the RC Church and the fundamentalist wackos insist upon their way and start telling their followers and members that God wants them to vote this way or that way. Here in St. Louis the RC Church has had giant signs for decades saying "God is pro-life" which is utterly offensive even if you agree with them on abortion! The problem with taxing them is once we do that then they'll be free to openly exhort their members to do God's will (aka the will of the church leaders) by voting Republican or Democratic or whatever. No matter whose side they are on they need to butt out."

I agree with much of what my friend said here, but in this statement he forgets a very important element - the tax deductible contributions of the parishioners to the church.

As I already said, the real problem is that it is intellectually dishonest. It is no secret what candidate(s) and party they support in government these days. A person would have to have a very low IQ not to get it.  (As a side note, both support for their favored party as well as their religion are diminishing. You would think they would connect the dots.)

If I were Christian I would say that it's very un-Christian of them, but since I'm not, I will just say that it's typical.

The churches on Telegraph are using up very valuable property that could be benefiting our community, especially economically. Instead they are a drain on community resources, and serve as housing for dishonest political action committees.

They aren't fooling anyone, but the fact that they can do what they do and remain sheltered from paying taxes is a crime against the trust of the average American.

Not only should the church pay taxes, the contributions to the church shouldn't be anymore tax deductible than a contribution to the Republican National Committee.