WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2006


Dear Anne,


With elections coming, your church is at serious risk.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) and other similar groups are intimidating churches into silence on abortion, same-sex marriage, and other important moral issues - using a vague, half-century-old law.

The IRS can strip your church of its tax-exempt status - and force your church to pay taxes like a business - if someone complains that the church is involved in "politics"!

This is why it's urgently important that Congress pass the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act.

Support the ACLJ as we march into Congress to protect our pastors' constitutional right of free speech by giving your secure online gift TODAY.

During this election season, AU is reportedly blanketing the nation with letters to more than 117,000 houses of worship, warning of the possibility of lawsuits - and the loss of tax-exempt status - for any churches where these issues are discussed.

They will do everything in their power to intimidate ministers into silence. They will try to scare people away from giving donations. And the IRS itself has announced it will be on the lookout for any church that gets involved in politics!

But who gave AU the authority to tell a pastor what he should or should not say from the pulpit? Who ordained AU as the "thought police"? This cuts against everything upon which our country was founded!

We must fight back. For the sake of your religious liberty, I urge you to give your immediate generous (and still tax-deductible!) online donation to the ACLJ.

The law must be changed. It violates the First Amendment rights of people of faith. For 52 years, the IRS has been free to "watchdog" America's houses of worship ... and their censorship of First Amendment free speech rights has often been discriminatory - with AU as their search-and-destroy squad.

With only a few exceptions, AU tends to challenge conservative churches - and leave liberal churches alone.

Remember seeing TV coverage of Senator John Kerry holding the equivalent of political rallies in big liberal churches? Americans United hardly blinked.

But let a minister speak out about the sanctity of life, or the institution of marriage, or any other moral issue from a conservative, biblical standpoint - and AU swings into action.

(AU has filed complaints with the IRS against an Arkansas pastor whose 4th of July sermon called on Christians to vote. They have complained to the IRS about a Catholic diocese in Colorado whose bishop called on parishioners to vote against candidates who favored abortion, stem-cell research, or euthanasia. And the list goes on.)

The constitutional free speech rights of every minister must be preserved. This is why the ACLJ helped Congressman Walter Jones and other members of Congress to draft the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act, and why we are working hard to get a vote on it. We are committed to seeing this bill passed.

But we need your help. Give right now to help the ACLJ's legal and legislative efforts to ensure those rights - and to see passage of the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act.

Your gift will enable us to move forward on this vital issue and continue all of our work across the nation: preparing briefs for the Supreme Court of the United States, fighting for the unborn, protecting your religious liberties, and more.

So please act now. When conservative ministers duck the same-sex marriage issue in their sermons for fear of their churches losing tax-exempt status - when Christian action groups withdraw into a shell as Election Day approaches - when even devout Catholic priests are afraid to talk about abortion - it's time for a change!

HELP US GET A NEW LAW PASSED TO PROTECT YOUR CHURCH and ensure your own free speech rights. Thank you for taking action on this immediately, for the cause of freedom.







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American Center for Law and Justice is a d/b/a for Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism, Inc., a tax-exempt, not-for-profit, religious corporation as defined under Section 501©(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, specifically dedicated to the ideal that religious freedom and freedom of speech are inalienable, God-given rights. The Center's purpose is to educate, promulgate, conciliate, and where necessary, litigate, to ensure that those rights are protected under the law. The organization has participated in numerous cases before the Supreme Court, Federal Court of Appeals, Federal District Courts, and various state courts regarding freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Your gift is very much appreciated and fully deductible as a charitable contribution. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained by writing to us at P.O. Box 450349, Atlanta, GA 31145-0349.

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(AU has filed complaints with the IRS against an Arkansas pastor whose 4th of July sermon called on Christians to vote. They have complained to the IRS about a Catholic diocese in Colorado whose bishop called on parishioners to vote against candidates who favored abortion, stem-cell research, or euthanasia. And the list goes on.)

But let a minister speak out about the sanctity of life, or the institution of marriage, or any other moral issue from a conservative, biblical standpoint - and AU swings into action.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The AU is correct.
Free speech is non- coercive. Free speech is, 'O, you look so good today,' or 'my opinion is that abortion is not right,' or 'marriage should be between a man and a woman.'
You cross a line when you say to people, 'Do not do this,' of 'Do not do that,' because you take the position of the judge. When you tell them to do something, you are using a psychological tactic and who you are telling to do whatever is free also and you are changing his or her freedom.

Ok. But let's hope they won't use the argument you are giving as an additional argument to close our churches...

It's called reading scripture! Would you allow a loved one to do something that is an abomination to the Lord without warning them? Why not just allow a child to wander out into a busy street to be hit by a car? After all, we mustn't "judge" the child's actions to be potentially hazardous to his health! Good grief.

Free speech has always been used coercively. The founding fathers' speeches rallying the colonies into rebellion against the crown were rightly coercive, and thankfully so. This is simply yet another tactic of the liberal left-wing to keep people ignorant of the salvation that the Lord offers, and the accompanying restrictions of certain abominable behaviors that the Lord requires. If it were not so, than the AU would be at the throat of the liberal so-called "churches" that people like Kerry like to rally from as well.

Your sister in Christ, Angela

Gregg don't post that crazy nonsense...................... Now was that the nicest thing to say.....NO..... but was it protected by our constitution.......Yes

K.D.