Religious speech? "Vote for Bush or get out"? It's political speech and we all know it. If they want to engage in that, fine. If they want to trade on Christ's name for political reasons, fine. But if they're going to go down that dubious road, why should they be tax exempt? Since when is partisan hackery equivalent to worshipping the almighty?

Yes, i Live in Waynesville NC.

I sure am glad I didn't vote for Bush considering these are the kinds of fanatics I'd be associated with.

The NAACP is not a religious organization. They have no connection to churches--there are Jewish and Christian religious leaders on the Board, but their mission is decidedly secular.

Theocrat Boots Democrat Voters from House of Lord - Bush is Prez, not

The assets of the church should be turned over to the victims.

As for Black churches - it's almost a fair criticism and the FBI has investigated the NAACP for tax status. But there is a far cry between blending the line of _supporting_ a political platfom and direct intimidation and denying people a property interest in their life-long community.

I have never heard the NAACP say that if you don't vote our way, we're going to ex-communicate you from the Association. My guess is that a good number of members vote for Republicans.

Ben

What are you talking about "they"? I'd say the same if someone were going after the local African-American church for allowing John F. Kerry to speak in the pulpit on Sunday morning. Or Jesse Jackson to masquerade behind his "Rev." title to do "the Lord's work" of electing a suitably liberal democrat president.

The domain of the political is not exclusively secular. The separation of church and state so esteemed by the ACLU and the like begins with "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Couple that with the free speech provisions of the First Amendment, and I think I've got a pretty good civil libertarian case that religious groups should be able to spout off on whatever political issue they choose without fear of government reprisal.

So stick that in your hat and smoke it, "hal." and sad to think that even with all the groups the liberals have bought allegiance from, they are still in the minority.

Yep James, they're getting feisty aren't they? Kind of funny that the right is in power because of these jokers, ain't it? Sad to think that without them, you guys would be the minority....

But I guess Michael Moore is fat n' all.

I wonder if the congregation willbe quite so accepting of this overzealous preacher in the face of losing their 501(c)(3) exemption? My guess is one call from the IRS could undo this action.

you are correct that Chandler can't really "excommunicate" someone from the baptist faith, since it is about as non-heirarchical as you can get.

Still, he's going a bit farther than most evangelicals would go.

Do these people even listen to themselves?