| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
27 Sep 2004 12:41:28 AM |
| Object: |
A vote and a prayer: Web sites tread a fine line |
It seems that the churches are using prayer as an offensive weapon in
this year's election
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September 26, 2004
A vote and a prayer: Web sites tread a fine line
By Beth Gillin
Knight Ridder Newspapers
PHILADELPHIA In her 60 years as a Roman Catholic, Nancy OBrien said,
shed never seen anything like it. There in the church bulletin at St.
Philip Neri in Lafayette Hill, Pa., was an item urging parishioners to
pray the Election Novena, available at www.electionnovena.org.
The notice cited Pope John Paul IIs exhortation to Americans to
"guarantee the right to life" and sought daily recitation of the
rosary until the election, "to overcome the culture of death." To
OBrien, those were buzzwords for "pray for pro-life candidates," an
impression the Web site confirmed.
The Election Novena, started by Catholics in Green Bay, Wis., uses
prayer the way others use bumper stickers as a partisan tool. It is
not alone.
With religion playing a high-profile role this election season,
tax-exempt prayer sites such as Pray the Vote, Prayer for America, and
Nineveh Journey are popping up on the Internet. Unlike conventional
interest groups, they believe people can influence the outcome by
giving up television, by eating bread and water for dinner, and, of
course, by praying fervently.
The prayer site 40 Days USA seeks, in language familiar to
evangelicals, a nationwide "crying out to God" for the election of
"God-fearing men and women" and the countrys "deliverance and safe
passage into future days."
To OBrien, an active member of her parish, encouraging such prayer in
the church bulletin was "clearly political, a crossing of the line
that separates church and state." It didnt matter that no office
seekers were named, OBrien said, because its known that the Republican
President is antiabortion and his Democratic challenger advocates
abortion rights.
"Im all for prayer," OBrien said, "and Im not trying to be
troublesome. I just think this is going down a slippery slope."
The federal tax code prohibits religious leaders from endorsing
candidates from the pulpit, the theory being that organizations that
dont have to pay taxes shouldnt influence elections.
But prayer sites are careful not to name names or solicit campaign
donations, apparently in an effort to pass legal muster with the
Internal Revenue Service, whose primary concern is money.
The IRS "is interested in tax issues," said Bill Cressman, IRS
spokesman in Philadelphia.
"If an entity has taxable income, we want it to pay the taxes it
owes," Cressman said. "If its tax-exempt, we want it to adhere to the
rules that allow it to be tax-exempt."
Those rules permit tax-exempt organizations, both religious and
nonreligious, to advocate on issues, Cressman said, but not to
advocate for or against candidates.
As an example, last month Catholic Answers, a lay group in San Diego,
published a Voters Guide for Serious Catholics on the general-interest
Web site www.catholic.com. Just as the prayer sites do, the voters
guide declared its opposition to candidates who espouse certain
positions in this case, abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem-cell
research, human cloning, and homosexual marriage. Also posted was a
letter from a law firm saying the voters guide complies with IRS
regulations.
Is it possible for prayer to run afoul of the IRS? Cressman declined
to deal in hypotheticals, saying, "Every case is very much a test of
facts and circumstances."
If the positions advocated by prayer Web sites tend to be
conservative, it may be because liberals are more likely to support
strict church-state separation. OBrien does. Last year, she ran for a
seat on the Colonial School District board in Montgomery County, Pa.
and when someone put her campaign literature in the back of the
church, OBrien removed it.
"I took it to the pastor," she said. "I told him it was not
appropriate."
But for organizations such as Pray the Vote, the whole idea is to
incorporate spiritual beliefs into civic life. Pray the Vote was
launched in June by a Phoenix-based organization that also, soon after
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, founded the Presidential Prayer
Team to pray for the Bush administration.
Nineveh Journey isnt shy about its mission a national conversion,
"shown by the election of a pro-life president and super-majority in
the House and Senate."
OBrien prefers keeping God and politics separate.
"I really thought it all was settled in 1960, when John F. Kennedy
refused to talk about religion because he said it had nothing to do
with running for office," she said.
That was before candidates found that professing piety didnt
necessarily damage their standing in the polls and might even enhance
it.
In July 2003, televangelist Pat Robertson kicked up a stir when his
Web site www.cbn.com invited prayers for three Supreme Court justices
prayers that "God will inspire them to retire."
A year later, Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and
Sandra Day OConnor are still there.
As someone once said, no prayer ever goes unanswered, but sometimes
the answer is no.
Some election prayer sites
Election Novena (www.electionnovena.org) Started by a group of
Wisconsin Roman Catholics, it seeks "an outcome of the November
election which is pleasing to Almighty God, and which provides most
effectively for the implementation of His Holy Will in the public and
private lives of all."
Nineveh Journey (www.ninevehjourney.org) Sponsored by the
international lay Roman Catholic organization Pro Sanctity, the site
likens America to ancient Nineveh, a sinful city that the biblical
prophet Jonah warned would be destroyed by God unless the inhabitants
donned sackcloth and ashes for 40 days. Nineveh Journey wants people
to pray and fast for 50 days, one day for each state, alphabetically
arranged from Alabama to Wyoming.
Pray the Vote (www.presidentialprayerteam.org//praythevote) The site
urges people to integrate prayer into their lives by inviting friends
over for prayer parties, with music and refreshments. It even shows
how to download invitations. The purpose of the parties is to pray for
divine intervention in the elections.
40 Days USA (www.40daysusa.org) To help the country as it "passes
through a time of war and another critical national election," the
Christian site recommends 40 days of prayer and fasting from the eve
of Yom Kippur to Election Day and provides instructions on such things
as community prayer watches and 24//7 tag-team prayer.
Intercessors for America (www.ifa-usapray.org) The evangelical site
advises, "Pray for godly local, state and national pro-life and
traditional family candidates to find favor."
Pathway (www.mbcpathway.com) The Web site of the Missouri Baptist
Convention provides 40 days worth of detailed prayer instruction, such
as "Oct. 13: Pray that people will get off the fence and take a stand
for God. Also pray for the third presidential debate."
You can find this story online at:
http://www.dailyitem.com/archive/2004/0926/fea/stories/05fea.htm
----
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
-The ability to change one's mind, ideas, and opinions when confronted with
new facts is the sign of the rational and intelligent. The inability to do
so is the hallmark of the dimwitted and the fanatic. This applies not only
to science and philosophy, but also to politics.-
.
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| User: "Moose" |
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| Title: Re: A vote and a prayer: Web sites tread a fine line |
27 Sep 2004 03:23:24 PM |
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johac wrote:
Unlike conventional
interest groups, they believe people can influence the outcome by
giving up television, by eating bread and water for dinner, and, of
course, by praying fervently.
No harm done, I suppose. Hopefully they'll pray so hard they'll forget to
vote!
To OBrien, an active member of her parish, encouraging such prayer in
the church bulletin was "clearly political, a crossing of the line
that separates church and state." It didnt matter that no office
seekers were named, OBrien said, because its known that the Republican
President is antiabortion and his Democratic challenger advocates
abortion rights.
So the war-mongering president get the nod from the "Thou shalt not kill"
xians, eh?
.
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