Should there be repercussions for pastors who use the pulpit to tell their congregations how to vote?

They should be relieved of their duties. Coercion is illegal. No one has any right to tell you how to vote, it's a matter of personal conscience and decision.

Separation of church and state cuts both ways!!

I respectively disagree with you. Government does not belong in our churches at all and should not be able to dictate what is said from the pulpit. I guess that's why I forwent the Incorporation of our church.

If ever I was crass enough to even so much as endorse a candidate not to speak of try and tell my congregants who to vote for the government has no right to limit my Speech. Period .. what you propose is against the 1st amendment.

You say they should loose tax free status for exercising their right to free Speech and then say that you obey the law of the land. Then you tell someone else to read their bible? I think you should read our constitution. It is the law of the land.

I've included the link so you can read up on it.

Edit: Your question makes it seem as if you hadn't read it. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding.

Oh and and I have read the 501 nonsense ... like I said I opted out of coming under the State's control by rejecting it outright.

Well, I haven't heard anything out of you for a long while. I agree that the Bible requires you to follow the laws of the land (as long as they don't break Yahwah's laws). Remember Daniel and his three friends. Bowing down to the government is not an option when they boast themselves higher than Him. It's always been a subject of debate, but I don't think that it violates the Bible to require a pastor to not indorse a Presidential candidate from the pulpit. There are however ones doing it, and endorsements are going out to both candidates. I believe that if they are violation the laws of the land, they should receive the punishment that the law requires. Also, if there is a "Free day", on that day, they are not breaking the law of the land......

Shalom

Man doesn't give a Pastor his "status"- God does.

These men and women are people chosen by God to lead his sheep over many churches.

While I don't think anyone should TELL anyone who to vote for, I do agree that there's nothing wrong with suggesting this would be a great person to vote for and give their OPINION why. That's as far as I believe it should go.

Anything a Pastor does is all right as long as it is in line with the word of God. Therefore, if a Pastor is controlling people, that is OUTSIDE of the word of God because the word of God is against that, so that person or Pastor would be out of line if they were to do something like that.

If they're doing nothing but "suggesting" who would be great to vote for, then there's noting wrong with that.

I think they need to stop obfuscating the issue by trying to pass it off as the IRS preventing them from speaking biblical truths. They can do that all they want. They can even do that in the context of presidential candidates. But they can not endorse or support those candidates as an organization. That doesn't mean they can't discuss how the candidates stand up to biblical standards.

Unless they are claiming that their candidates are biblical themselves they should not be allowed to confuse the two. Christians frequently demonstrate that the laws do not apply to them. Two of those individuals have the last name Palin -- one is a VP candidate, the other her husband.

Yes, I think they should be made to pay taxes. You got it exactly right. They accepted these rules when they accepted tax-free status. It's only fair.

People need to realize, as well, that every Sunday is "Pulpit Free Sunday" in most churches. This is something they have been getting away with for a long time. For years, a large church in my community would hand out example ballets already marked. My grandmother would carry them to the voting both with her and mark her ballet accordingly. When they finally got in trouble for it, they mailed them out to parishioners instead. They finally got big-time busted, but you know they've found ways around it. This is something that is very important to them.

If the pastor tells his or her congregation how to vote, the church should be notified that it can lose its tax exempt status. If the congregation continues to allow the pastor to continue then the tax exempt status should be revoked.

During Y2K, my brother in-law, who is very smart, was told by his priest to buy a generator,grist mill to grind wheat into flour and to stock up wood for the coming computer shut-down.

What's more unbelievable, that the priest said this or my bro in law bought all this stuff?

No if it is a one time thing. But if he always endorses and goes off over and over it is not proper.

Every body there should be on the same page and should need convincing anyway, right?

If they are giving out names, I don't agree with it, but if they are talking about issues, without giving out names, I do not see a problem with it... It's called voting your conscience.... Some people's priorities are different than others..... So being told to vote your conscience isn't wrong.....