The Church in Chains (and So Goes the Nation)

A few months (weeks?) ago the Constitution Partys Presidential candidate, Pastor Chuck Baldwin, asked if today's churches are still relevant. I read the article, which I receive by e-mail, and gave it some thought. I had experienced a somewhat corroborating experience as Hunt County Coordinator for CPOT.

When I first agreed to be the Hunt County Coordinator for the Constitution Party, I was sure that the party platform would resonate with many Christians, especially the clergy. Well, something unexpected happened. In my naive zeal, I sat down and wrote an impassioned letter to some 160 ministers, reverends, pastors, etc. In my letter I explained the partys Christian flavor. We are rabidly pro-life. We recognize the hand of God in the creation of our great nation and its hopes for the future. OK, it was a little bit over the top, but let's face it; we have a great platform that most any Christian should feel happy to support. Well, to make a long, sad story short, would anyone care to guess the response rate? Much to my surprise, I did not receive one response, not even a negative. Nothing, nada, zip. The clergy in my county apparently have absolutely no patriotic zeal; at least none that can be confirmed. It was as if I had sent my letters to China or Cuba. No, that's wrong. In China or Cuba I would probably have had a huge response, albeit covertly. What went wrong? In short, churches are running scared. They instruct the congregation on the proper path to salvation, but do not address the Christians duty to protect and preserve the greatest Christian nation in existence. There seems to be a total lack of patriotic zeal in today's clergy. Oh there may be some patriots in the clergy, but they are an exception rather than the norm. Few are willing to proclaim their patriotism from the pulpit. They are afraid of offending the government and facing the tender loving touch of the Infernal Revenue Service. Their letter of determination means more than the potential death of a decidedly Christian nation and its people. I was (and still am) shocked and horrified. What turned our clergy from patriots into pussycats? Let's try to answer that little question, shall we?

I am sure that at least a majority of our party's well-read and worldly membership already knows the sordid story but I shall offer a brief and somewhat truncated recap for those that are deficient in historical acumen.

It begins in pre-revolution times. In England, George the III had just made the Anglican Church the "official" Church of England. All citizens must become Anglicans or face the consequences. A bit harsh to say the least. The Anglican Church was a result of the spat between Georgie and the Roman Catholic Church. To say George and the Pope didn't see eye to eye is an understatement. In any event, many righteous, freedom loving, men (and women) sued for permission to immigrate to the colonies as they were then called. George, being more then happy to accommodate the trouble-makers, agreed. So, like the Beverly Hillbillies, these good folks loaded up the .. boat... and moved to … the colonies. Their charters granted them the right to establish a colony in the new world based on religious doctrine or just about anything else for that matter.

Now, since the vast majority of these new colonies were established by people who had faced religious harassment and persecution, it comes as no surprise that most of their communities were based on religious doctrine and natural law. And it should be noted that, frequently, the leading personages in these communities were the pastors, vicars, reverends and so on. These religious leaders were looked to for moral guidance, including the politics of the community. They were considered to be among the wisest of the population, and their input concerning decisions that affected the whole community was indispensable. They were after all, the resident experts on God's natural laws. And, since the church building was usually the first community structure built, town hall meetings were almost always held in the church. Do we have the picture yet?

In fact, during the ramp-up to the revolutionary war and even during the war, the clergy were among the most influential and respected. They were, at the least, partly responsible for the successes the battered army and a bedraggled people had during those trying times. With their support and guidance, the spirit of the people was secured, the war was won and a great nation was instituted. They were so successful at cheer-leading the cause, the British Army referred to them as the Black Robe Regiment. They were viewed as an integral part of the colonist's military effort.

After the nation's birth and for the next 150 years or so all went well. We grew as a nation, but we still looked to the church and the clergy for guidance. Our political leaders were for the most part decent people. Oh to be sure there were some stinkers in the mix, but their shortcomings were frequently a topic of fiery sermons. And then, along came Johnson, Lyndon Baines that is. Landslide Lyndon had fraudulently gained his goal of public office. He was a favorite target of the clergy in Texas when it came to illustrating what a callous, self-serving politician looked like. Lyndon was the antithesis of all that is just and moral, in short, a "normal" politician. Well, LBJ didn't take kindly to the clergy vilifying him, so in 1954, after winning election as a senator from Texas, he promptly had the IRS tax laws changed. And, this is the point in time where it started coming unraveled.

In 1954 the tax code was changed to prohibit tax-exempt, non-profit organizations from publicly commenting on things political or on the vices and shortcomings of the candidates. Then, in a masterful sleight of hand, the IRS convinced most of the churches that it was in their best interests to accept what is now called 501(C)3 status. This was codified in a "letter" that confirmed the entities status as a tax-exempt organization. In IRS speak it is called a "Letter of Determination". It is just a piece of paper, but with it, the government binds the churches and the clergy as if with chains of strongest steel. The church and the clergy were no longer able or allowed to use the government and its rapacious appetites for power as a topic of clerical condemnation. If a minister criticized government policy or discussed the shortcomings of a political candidate, they faced the possibility of having their precious letter revoked. Oh horrors! No letter. no tax exemption. Right?

Which brings us to the point of this rant? So what happens if a church has its Letter of Determination revoked? In short, absolutely nothing! Well, except for getting the meddlesome IRS out of your pulpit. A churche's tax-exempt status cannot be revoked by the government or its minions. Nice try LBJ, you got away with a monumental hoax, at the expense of Christians everywhere. Churches are tax-exempt by virtue of the 1st Amendment. Remember the part that says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." It is the second phrase that frees the church from government meddling and coercion. The simple act of leveling a tax on churches or their properties would represent a massive intrusion into the free exercise of the institution. The mere fact that a church is a religious entity frees it from government's clutches. A church is tax-exempt, with or without the damning letter from the IRS. Interestingly, the IRS admits the fact. While browsing through another article on this subject, I noted that the author of that article quoted a retired senior revenue agent. I don't have the article handy but in a nutshell, he and his fellow agents were astounded that churches came to the IRS in droves asking for 501(C)3 "protections". They wondered "why would an entity that is constitutionally tax-exempt and free of government intrusion suddenly ask to be monitored by the single agency that most people would love to see disappear?" Good question.

The answer is not as simple as mere sleight of hand by LBJ and the IRS. The churches themselves were and are partly to blame. Any minister worth his salt should know the basis for his churches freedom from intrusion. So we are faced with several possibilities:

They were scared to NOT go along out of fear of government retaliation, (cowardice?)
Everyone else was going along so it must be OK, (stupidity?)
They simply didn't know any better. (ignorance of the law?).

None of these conditions are really defensible. Ignorance is forgivable perhaps, but stupidity is not. Cowardice? Well, you decide if it is to be forgiven.

Thus we get to the crux of this story. It is IMPERATIVE that we, the members of the Constitution Party, pound the gospel of patriotism into the heads of every clergyman (or woman) we can. We must address congregations whenever and wherever we are able. We must get them to realize that part of their responsibility as Christians is to protect and preserve the great nation that the Lord God Almighty has, in his beneficence, given to each of us. It was no accident that this mighty nation was born out of chaos. The Lord God ordained that from the tumult would rise a great and righteous nation, peopled by those of moral and just conscience. We have slept for long enough. It is past time to take our nation back from the socialists and statists that would turn it into a godless mirror image of the Soviet Union or communist China! Won't it be interesting, if on judgment day the Lord God makes the following observation?

"Yes, you have lived a righteous Christian life. You have kept my commandments. You have been your brother's keeper. BUT, there is one little problem. Where were you when the Christian nation I bestowed upon you was trampled into the dust of history? Did you rise up and champion her cause? Did you place her well-being above your own, even unto death? No? How then, when you ignored, or worse, spurned the gift, do you find the arrogance to expect me to allow you to enter yet another blessed kingdom?"

Think about it.