When the Church is a Political Action Committee

It can lose its Tax Exempt Status

   And Minister Barry Lynn of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) will file a complaint, as he vows to do against the preacher who blasted Obama on his gay friendliness. click here for
his explanation of the obligation not to endorse any candidate under rules for charitable tax exempt orgs.  If you are operating like a political action committee you should not enjoy charitable tax exempt status. The catholic church comes close when it hosts national rallies for religious freedom to trash Obama and all democrats participating in Obamacare- including the very Catholic Pelosi. Hasn't anyone paid attention to the fact that Sebellius and Pelosi are both Catholic and find the church's behavior here off the charts offensive and ridiculous?
     This org has made a statement that providing insurance for people to make private health decisions regarding contraception is not a 'religious liberty ' issue of the institution.  He urges Obama to protect people's health care access to contraception.

     Institutions may have constitutionally protected freedom of speech but do they have a religion because they call themselves one? You often hear it said that Georgetown law school isn't really catholic. It's just the name they inherited. The exemptions speak to the notion that one can be called religious of one religion or another when one is functioning as a religion, involving people of that religion and serving people of that religion. When you have a catholic law school where the administrators are not all or much catholic, workers are not all catholic, students or people it serves not all catholic, is it fair to call it catholic such that it should get some sort of exemption?  Rational people on moral grounds use birth control to avoid abortion and unwanted pregnancy. They don't agree with the whole religious freedom assault on HHS regs.

   There is a real problem with people who don't want their own families telling people who do how to go about forming them. Not only is it a loss of credibility issue, it's a competency issue. You don't know what you are talking about. So no one  has to listen to you goes the rationale. Abstract theoretical speculation about morality doesn't take the place of budgeting a grocery bill for a family. You all live rent free in luxury in an unreal world not inhabited by the rest of us issuing moral proclamations on how we are supposed to conduct sex lives that you don't have and don't want.

     The 'religious liberty' of other people who either work in your organizations or pay to use the services (students) is personal and real. Institutions don't have religions- the people in them do. And when the people in them are different religions, you have to respect their liberty.