(MintPress) – It’s no surprise that the Catholic Church veers toward the right when it comes to politics, but a recent address by a U.S. bishop took the religion’s politics to the next level.
While the Catechism of the Church states a pro-life, anti-gay marriage stance, leaders of the church have primarily refrained from endorsing one presidential candidate over another, instead telling parishioners to vote based on their faith — a method that skirts around the IRS-restricted practice of preaching politics from the pulpit. Any church that does so puts itself at risk of losing its tax-exempt status.
But as American politics and religion become more infused, religious leaders have begun to test the waters that divide their religious roles from political campaigning. That’s the case right now in Illinois, where a bishop went on the record to claim that voting for President Barack Obama could lead to eternal damnation.
It’s also the case for 1,000 Christian pastors throughout the U.S., who plan on preaching politics next month in the lead up to the 2012 election.
A non-political political message
Bishop Thomas John Paprocki released a video of himself addressing issues relating to the Democratic Party. He starts out with an analysis of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in North Carolina, where he criticizes delegates for voting in favor of removing God’s name from its party platform — a move he claims is damning to the nation.
And he doesn’t stop there. Paprocki goes on to address the Democratic Party platform and its pro-choice and its sympathetic response to gay rights, which he alludes should not be considered in the same category as human rights.
“My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote, but I do have a duty to speak out on moral issues. I would be abdicating this duty if I remained silent out of fear of sounding political and didn’t say anything about the morality of these issues,” Paprocki said in his message.
“I have read the Republican Party platform and there is nothing in it that supports or promotes an intrinsic evil or a serious sin,” he said, following up with his take on the church’s death penalty stance.
Paprocki cites the Republican Party platform, in which it says that states “should have the option of imposing the death penalty in capital murder cases.” He then attempts to draw this in line with the Catholic Church’s teachings — which have traditionally been anti-death penalty — by pointing out the language in the official Catechism, 2267: “Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.”
Politics and religion united
Paprocki’s address to Catholics was shocking to those who viewed it as an overreaching attempt by a religious official to endorse one political party over another — but it’s not seen that way by everyone.
With abortion and gay marriage central issues to the political debate, the religious right justifies their viewpoints with their religion, making it tough to keep the conversation outside of church walls. Some even claim that churches should be allowed to preach politics, claiming it’s a sign of freedom and a cornerstone of the American way.
Next month, 1,000 pastors throughout the country will exhibit those exact beliefs, as they preach openly from the pulpit. They’re doing so not only for a political message, but also as a sign of protest. If the IRS threatens — or does — take away their tax-exempt status, they plan on taking the issue to court. And they think they’ll have a case of coming out of court victors, claiming the law violates their First Amendment right to free speech.
“The purpose is to make sure that the pastor — and not the IRS — decides what is said from the pulpit,” Erik Stanley, a lawyer for the pastors, told Fox News. “It’s a head on constitutional challenge.”
The pastors have set Oct. 7 as their designated date to preach politics in what they’re referring to as “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.”
What’s the litmus test for preaching politics at the pulpit?
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) distinguishes the difference between a religious and political organization for the benefit of clarity when it comes to tax exemptions. Churches and religious organizations are exempt from paying income taxes, unless they violate certain provisions of the IRS code that allows such a status.
One of those violations would be political campaign activity, in which a representative of a religious organization speaks in favor or against a specific political party or candidate while representing the church. If they’re speaking as an individual, however, they’re able to do as they please.
“Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made by or on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity,” the IRS policy states.
So, when Paprocki spent the good portion of six minutes comparing the Democratic and Republican Parties, determining which was “intrinsically evil” and which was not, during an official address as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, Ill., it’s reasonable to assume that he was speaking politics from the pulpit.
Yet there was one sentence thrown in his message that could save him.
“I am not telling you which parties or which candidates to vote for or against, but I am saying that you need to think and pray very carefully about your vote, because a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy,” he said.
So, while not telling parishioners which party to vote for, he makes the claim that supporting the party he previously, in the same statement, referred to as promoting evil and sin would likely lead Catholic followers straight to hell.
Calls made by MintPress to the Diocese of Springfield, Ill., of which Paprocki belongs, were not immediately returned. There has been no indication at this time that the Diocese’s tax-exempt status is being threatened.
Moving forward, it’s clear those in the Catholic and Christian churches aren’t going to give up without a fight, further blending the line between a political and religious organization, and infusing politics and religion into one belief system.
Whether having to skirt around the issue by giving blanket statements that claim religious leaders aren’t endorsing one candidate over another, when clearly they are, or taking on the system altogether, it may become more difficult in the future to separate political beliefs from church denomination affiliation.