!?!?!?!?MN megachurch endorses opponent of dem candidate Wetterling

[bobbieinok]

http://www.minnesotamonitor.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=524

Michele Bachmann Speech at Church Could Cause Tax Troubles
Oct 15, 2006 -- 12:28 AM CDT
Andy Birkey

An event last night at Living Word Christian Center, a large suburban chuch in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, featuring Republican Congressional Candidate Michele Bachmann could cost the church its nonprofit tax status as the event appeared to endorse Bachmann for office. A personal endorsement from the pastor of the church, as well as Bachmann's own statements in her speech, appear to have violated regulations pertaining to partisan politicking by churches. Bachmann is in a tight race with Patty Wetterling, a race that's at the top of most election analysts lists in terms of importance and competitiveness.

....

"Pastor Mac Hammond: Amen. Now be seated again for a moment please. I have somebody special I want to introduce you to tonight. State Senator Michele Bachmann is with us and I’m going to ask her to come in in just a moment, and of course many of you know Michele, know of her pursuit of the United States Senate seat vacated by Mark Kennedy or Congressional seat vacated by Mark Kennedy’s run for a United States Senate seat. Keeping all this straight gets to be challenging. But ya know we can’t publicly endorse as a church and would not for any candidate but I can tell you personally that I’m going to vote for Michele Bachmann, because I’ve come to know her, what she stands for, and I want her to share her testimony with you tonight. Would you give her a warm welcome as she comes to share? Thank you Michele."
Michele Bachmann breaks that rule in her speech as well, when she discusses her campaign in some detail:


"God then called me to run for the United States Congress, and I thought “What in the world will that be for?” and my husband said “You need to do this,” and I wasn’t so sure, and we took 3 days and we fasted and we prayed and we said, “Lord. Is this what you want? Is this your will?” and after long about the afternoon of day two, he made that calling sure. And its been now 22 months that I’ve been running for United States Congress. Who in their right mind would spend 2 years to run for a job that lasts 2 years? You’d have to be absolutely a fool to do that. You are now looking at a fool for Christ. This is a fool for Christ. And in the midst of him making this calling sure, what has occurred now in this particular race is that this Congressional seat out of 435 in the country has become… it has been one of the top five races in the country, and in the last week this has become one of the top three races in the country, and you may have seen how God has in his own will, and his own plan, has focused like a laser beam after this scandal that came up about a week or so ago. He has focused like a laser beam in his reasoning on this race. The reason why this is one of the top three races is because this race will probably decide which way Congress goes this fall. We could talk more about what that means for this nation, what this means for defeating radical Islam, what this means for what the future of the family is going to be, what this is going to mean for the future of the freedom of religious expression."

Hammond's statement while he is preaching to his congregation, in his role as pastor, would seem to be an explicit endorsement by the church. Despite his statement asserting that the church cannot endorse, the IRS views use of church equipment to endorse a candidate as church endorsement. In fact, the IRS explicitly forbids partisan comments at a church function:

....

Still, Pastor Mac Hammond attempts to defend the event:


"I said important that we put men and women of God in office in our government. I don’t want any more letters about church and politics don’t mix. If that’s your opinion then you need to get saved, because the bible makes clear that we are to have an effect on the world in which we live."
Crossposted at Eleventh Avenue South.


(In the comments section there is a link to the video of this event.)


Video of Event
Ken Avidor of Dump Bachmann has video of the event.
Part 1 (9:51)

Part 2 (5:18)

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Talibangelicals don't give a snake's fart about the law

Never have and never will; the rule of law is the tool of Satan out to destroy God's Chosen Fanatics.

[Hoping4Change]

32. "Talibangelicals"

That is brilliant.:rofl:

[Phredicles]

2. Yo, IRS, are you listening?

Or do these rules only apply to churches that criticize The Decider? :eyes:

[kestrel91316]

3. The IRS of course will IGNORE this church.

[tbyg52]

20. Report 'em to Americans United...

...for Separation of Church and State.

www.au.org
[e-mail]
202-466-3234

Here's a link to the letter they are asking people to send out (I did lots of churches in my area).
http://www.au.org/site/DocServer/2006_letter_to_churches_pdf.pdf?docID=1121

[ClintonTyree]

27. More than likely......

it's just so hard to prove something like this (unless of course it's a church supporting Democrats, then of course, it's an open and shut case). :eyes:

The IRS will once again turn a blind eye to the talibornagains. After all, they're just so......... CHRISTIAN, they couldn't possibly have intentionally done this. A severe talking to will suffice, I imagine.

They SHOULD close the doors of this "house of god", but they won't.

[greeneyedboy]

4. blatantly illegal. hope MN locals will get the media to cover this.

[w4rma]

5. That is blatant. They are desperate. (nt)

[Mr_Spock]

6. Damned RW evangelical ass holes don't deserve tax-free status any more

This is ridiculous - they better crack down on this damned RW organization calling itself a "church". :mad:

[jhain]

7. "and after long about the afternoon of day two, "

what WERE she and her dear husband doing that afternoon??

I am so sick of this sh&t I could vomit.

Right from the pulpit, huh?

I am so sick of NON news on the "news" networks.....this ought ot be a headline on at least a FREAKIN CRAWLER blurb.

[ktowntennesseedem]

8. Here's the church's website.

Just in case in other DUers have any thoughts you'd like to share. :evilgrin:

<http://www.lwcc.org/HOME/lwcc_home/>

[babylonsister]

9. Even after being disparaged by this admin in print by one who knows ,

they still support it and its enablers. Must be something really important in it for them. Follow the money?:think:

[IndyOp]

10. Positively Inspirational !!

I'd been meaning to contribute to Wetterling's campaign - the red tab on the right side...

http://www.pattywetterling.com/

Thanks PreacherMan! :applause:

[ktowntennesseedem]

11. Oh, BTW, kicked and recommended!

:kick:

[Bjorn Against]

12. Michele Bachmann is insane

Read this excerpt from the original post again:

""God then called me to run for the United States Congress, and I thought “What in the world will that be for?” and my husband said “You need to do this,” and I wasn’t so sure, and we took 3 days and we fasted and we prayed and we said, “Lord. Is this what you want? Is this your will?” and after long about the afternoon of day two, he made that calling sure."

She believes that God talks to her personally through the voices in her head. This woman is insane.

[Oleladylib]

13. The one sure thing Christ wasn't was Republican.

[Lexingtonian]

14. "fool' is right

As for 'God', she seems to be one of those people who sees 'God' in the mirror every time she checks there.

[Danascot]

15. IRS Investigating Liberal Church for Political Statements

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-allsaints18sep18,0,4386590,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[krkaufman]

25. You can bank on different treatment for this case...

... even though the CA church merely discussed issues, and no candidates.

[C_U_L8R]

16. Hello IRS ?

[BlueEyedSon]

17. Revoke. Tax-exempt. Status.

[Ferret Annica]

18. Rape! Constitutional Rape!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061012-12.html


"And you win campaigns when people get out, and put up the signs, and make the phone calls, go to the community centers and houses of worship and say, support these candidates."


George W. Bush

[question everything]

19. Bachmann was listed as one of the "worse" on Olbermann's (nt)

[Coyote_Bandit]

21. My guess is that

of the tax exempt status of the church is revoked that the church will appeal. They will contend (1) that Michelle was a guest speaker and they had no control over her comments and should not be held responsibel for them, (2) that the pastor clearly stated that the church could not endorse any candidate and (3) that the pastor stated his personal opinion as an excercise of his right to free speech.

That is the current meme going around churches. They are telling themselves that thee is a constitutional challenge against prohibition of endorsements on the basis of free speech provision of the First Amendment. They also seem to be telling themselves that explicit endorsements are prohibited by law but that implicit endorsements are pemissible. To my knowledge neither of these legal issues have been litigated. It would seem that the First Amendment argument should fail because tax-exempt status is voluntarily taken along with the restrictions that come with it. And if threats can be implicit then I see no reason why endorsements cannot be also.

Yes, I agree that the church should lose its tax exempt status for thess comments from the platform. But somehow I don't expect it to happen. This kind of crap has been tolerated for too long....

[jwirr]

22. Has anyone filed a complaint? This is good as there is no better

place to start this fight against political churches than in MN. Most of us merely tolerate these born-yesterday churches. We will not be sorry to see them go the way of the edsel.

[MarinCoUSA]

23. Fundies have flaunted the tax law from the beginning.

- The leftwing, former IRS employee, tax lawyer in me says so.

n/b:

???: How long did Ralph Reed work for the Christian Coalition AFTER they signed the consent agreement w/ the IRS stopping their 15 year (Reagan/Bush41) reign of criminal tax law violation?

AAA: 10 days.


"Watch what we do. Not what we say" / John Mitchell

[annm4peace]

24. thought you might enjoy this.. what an Embarassment she is

http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/2006/10/michele-bachmann-gets-hot-in-church

you can also check her out on Youtube

[civildisoBDence]

26. Bachmann calls herself a "fool for Christ."

She's half right...

Newsprism

[Joanne98]

28. Michele Bachmann wants to create a national sales tax of 37%

To pay off the debt her Gawd Bush ran up. When the public hears of this they will want to nail her to the cross. She also thinks teens should pay their employers for the privilege of working. I guess that means she's pro-child slave labor.

[RobbinsdaleDem]

29. Michele Bachmann is a nut.

I don't live in the district she's running in, but I've heard plenty about her and have seen plenty of her commercials. I've donated to Patty Wetterling in hopes of not having a loony like Bachmann represent MN in congress.

Mac Hammond used to preach his "Winner's Minute" during a TV morning show break. Gawd, I could not stand listening to him. I would turn the channel every time he came on. (He may still be on in the mornings for all I know, but I'm not up at that time anymore.)

[Odin2005]

30. That woman needs to be put in a institution, she is NUTS!

[yellowcanine]

31. Maybe it is God's will that Bachman run and lose. Bet she never thought

of that.