Profound Church and State Ignorance

KOTA has an article about "church and state" which is filled with misleading and inaccurate information.

Here's a real jewel:

Laws are set up to protect churches from the government and people from churches.

Protect people from churches? Which laws? How do they protect "people from churches?" What harm are churches attempting to visit upon people?

Perhaps it would be a more accurate description of our system of government to say that the U.S. Constitution declares not only the freedom of religious expression, but that there will be no official state church or religion. This is essentially what the First Amendment declares when it says

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

More from the article:

Many voters say the church influencing voters in any way is too much.

"I don't think they should endorse candidates because that would give them too much power," said Nels Leonard of Rapid City.

Really? What kind of "power" would it give to churches? Would people not be free to still vote as they see fit? Are church-goers mindless robots which march automatically to the dictates of the church? Would the church suddenly have an army of automatons to command for their sinister purposes?

Or would churches...simply go back to what they have done for most of American history, until about 50 years ago? In 1954, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson wanted to silence nonprofit organizations critical of him, so he successfully inserted an amendment into tax law which prohibited nonprofits from endorsing candidates at the risk of their tax exempt status.

Incidentally, there is no prohibition on churches speaking out on ballot issues, only candidates. While "mainstream" media Leftists would like to scare churches from even doing this, there is nothing--even in tax law-preventing it.

Even now, there is no criminal penalty for a church which endorses a candidate, and certainly no constitutional prohibition.

In fact, next Sunday many churches across the United States will do just that: endorse political candidates. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is sponsoring Pulpit Freedom Sunday, and many churches will join them in overturning this unconstitutional assault on religious freedom. The 1954 Johnson tax code amendment is a true violation of the separation of church and state because it dictates what religious institutions can and cannot say, limiting their freedom of speech and freedom of religious expression.

When churches cannot speak out about immoral behavior, immoral laws and politicians who advocate immoral laws and immoral polices, one of the primary religious duties of the church--being salt and light in a dark world--is being infringed upon by government power.

This is exactly what the founders intended to prohibit, yet so many lies have been foisted on the American people, and we have drifted so far from our traditional faith and knowledge of our heritage that many believe the First Amendment is intended to muzzle religious expression.

How Orwellian!

One more gem from the KOTA article:

"I just believe a person should vote their moral values, but it shouldn't be influenced by the church at all," said Tim Morris of Rapid City.

Why do we go to church if it isn't to get and reinforce moral values? Where will one obtain any reliable moral values outside the church--will they simply do "what is right in their own eyes?"

If a church does not or is afraid to speak truth to the critical moral issues of our day, it is like that salt Jesus referred to: no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.