Obamaâ??s Church in Trouble

**Psycho4Bud** · 03-11-2008, 11:45 AM

It seems that Barack Obamaâ??s Church, Chicagoâ??s Trinity United Church of Christ, could very well be acting in breach with IRS rules. The Churchâ??s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., seems to have turned Obama into the second coming of Christ and doesnâ??t forget to mention him and his candidacy during the Sunday sermon.

About the second coming of Christ, one may think that Iâ??m exaggerating it a bit. Trust me, Iâ??m not:

On Christmas morning, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. compared presidential candidate Barack Obamaâ??s impoverished childhood to Jesus Christâ??s. â??Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people,â? he then trumpeted. â??Hillary [Clinton] can never know that.â?

Hereâ??s the problem:

Under the law that governs tax-exempt organizations, churches are allowed to support causes or ballot initiatives such as laws to ban same-sex marriage. They also can hold a candidatesâ?? night for all office-seekers in a race. But according to guidance provided on the IRSâ??s Web site, churches are â??absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.â?

If they donâ??t play by the rules, churches can lose their tax-exempt status.

So how does the Rev. Wright behave?

With 6,000 members, Trinity is the largest United Church of Christ congregation. The church is centered in a poor Chicago neighborhood, near public housing and down the road from Cut Rate Food & Liquors, which posts a sign reading â??No drug dealing.â? A review by The Wall Street Journal of 13 sermons at Trinity seen live or through church-recorded DVDs since late December found nine instances of ministers at Trinity appearing to promote Sen. Obamaâ??s candidacy.

Some of the sermons mentioned Sen. Clinton or her husband in unflattering ways. During that Christmas morning sermon, Mr. Wright declared that Hillary Clinton â??ainâ??t had to work twice as hard just to get accepted by the rich white folk who run everything or to get a passing grade when you know you are smarter than that â??Câ?? student sitting in the White House.â? On Jan. 13, Mr. Wright told the Trinity congregation that some people say, â??â??Hillary is married to Bill and Bill [has] been good to us.â??â? Mr. Wright continued, â??No, he ainâ??t!â?

In some instances, the churchâ??s ministers alluded to Sen. Obama without naming him. During a Trinity sermon observed by a Journal reporter on March 2, the Rev. Otis Moss III, the pastor, preached, â??There was a non-Babylonian, a young man who heard the word of God and said, â??I have the audacity to hope!â?? Now the whole nation says, â??Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!â??â?

Note the somewhat racist remarks. Imagine what would happen if Clinton went to a Church in which the pastor talked like that about blacks.

According to experts cited by the Wall Street Journal, this is quite a simple case:

Ellen Aprill, an associate dean at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former adviser to the Treasury Department on matters including nonprofit tax law, says she believes those sermons are â??clearly a violation. Theyâ??re naming names.â?

Donald Tobin, an associate dean at Ohio State University law school, who formerly worked for the Justice Department on nonprofit tax matters, adds that nonprofits cannot make endorsements or engage in a â??pattern and practice that is designed to support one candidate over another.â? After being read sections of the Trinity sermons by the Journal, he said, â??There does seem to be a pattern of attempting to tip the scales in a way for Barack Obama. And churches shouldnâ??t be doing that.â?
PoliGazette Â» Obama’s Church in Trouble

Poor ol' Barrack...just doesn't know how to pick his friends I guess.

Have a good one!:s4:

Psycho4Bud Reviewed by Psycho4Bud on 03-11-2008. Obamaâ??s Church in Trouble It seems that Barack Obamaâ??s Church, Chicagoâ??s Trinity United Church of Christ, could very well be acting in breach with IRS rules. The Churchâ??s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., seems to have turned Obama into the second coming of Christ and doesnâ??t forget to mention him and his candidacy during the Sunday sermon. About the second coming of Christ, one may think that Iâ??m exaggerating it a bit. Trust me, Iâ??m not: On Christmas morning, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. compared Rating: 5

**DaBudhaStank** · 03-11-2008, 01:43 PM

While I understand where this coming from, I have two points.

1. Why in the hell does it matter if they give support to someone in church, and not outside it? Plenty of religious figures publicly back candidates outside of the church.

2. Secondly, psycho4bud, you really need to stop sounding so smarmy and elite. It angers me beyond belief.

**Psycho4Bud** · 03-11-2008, 01:51 PM