Political Neutrality

by mikepence 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  mikepence

  I recently discovered that non-profit corporations in the US *must* be politically neutral, or they lose their tax exempt status.

  This, more than anything else, explains the Witnesses firm stance on this matter.

  Peace,
  Mike Pence
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  gsx1138

  If that were true then the Christian Coalition would not be the most powerful political organization in the country.
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  NeonMadman

  Not really. In order to retain tax-exempt status, a religious corporation must be politically neutral as a corporation, but it is not required that the members of the group also must be politically neutral as individuals, which is what the Watchtower requires of its people.

  I believe that their motivation for insisting upon political neutrality of their members is twofold. First, it provides a good supply of martyrs and makes them stand out in the public eye as being "different," when they are "persecuted" for such things as not serving in the military, not voting, not saluting the flag, etc. Second, time devoted to political activity is time not spent in the service of the cult masters. They'd rather have the drones out soliciting donations.

  I find it interesting that their entire position of political neutrality is essentially built upon one scripture, John 17:14-16, where Jesus declares that his followers are "no part of the world," even as he is "no part of the world." However, the context does not indicate in any way that these words are a reference to involvement in government and politics. Rather, Jesus appears to be talking about the sinfulness of the world, and is asking God to protect his followers from succumbing to it. He speaks of his "protecting" them and of their being "sanctified".

  Meanwhile, Israel as a nation fought in wars, and was still approved by God. There is no indication in scripture that Cornelius ceased to serve as a Roman soldier after his conversion. Paul used military illustrations on several occasions in his writing, an odd thing to do if military service was a grave sin. Paul also told us in Romans 13 to be obedient to the civil authorities, and that they were ordained by God. And, in 2 Tim. 1,2, he tells us to pray for these kings and other authorities. All of this conflicts with the Watchtower teaching of complete neutrality, and, really, there is not one scripture in the Bible that supports that teaching.
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  Francois

  I like to tell my JW relatives that JWs are very politically active; that being politically neutral IS a political stance. Just like zero gives meaning to the entire number system, so being politically zero is a politically active position from which there is no escape. Of course the most that happens is that they are puzzled for the rest of the afternoon. They know that something of import has been said to them, but they're not sure what.

  Francois
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  Amazing

  NeonMadman: Good points ... and very much on target.

  Gsx1138:

  If that were true then the Christian Coalition would not be the most powerful political organization in the country.

  Do you have any source references to support this statement? Just curious because the National Association of Realtors (NAR) often boasts of being the largest and most influential political lobby, and some consider the Natinal RIfle Association (NRA) the same.

  The Mormon Church is unofficially Conservative-Republican, given the voting patterns and comments made by the average Mormon. I am not sure that the 'separation' rule requires that the Government dictate what political views a Church may have, but perhaps their 501(c)(3) status mean that they not contribute to a political party or PACs ... mmmm fascinating.
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  gsx1138

  I wish I did Amazing. I watched a hour long investigative show on MSNBC about how a watchdog group sent one of their guys in undercover in the CC. I'm not big into conspiracy theories but the news agency did the same thing and got pretty much the same info. They discovered the main goal for the CC was to have complete political control in this country through the churches. Now everyone wants complete political control so this is no surprise but how they are getting to that end is very surprising. One guy in the CC was even bragging on hidden camera how they have people placed in other lobby groups to help them. I saw this episode about 10 months ago. Given the current God craze in this country I'm very worried about what may be happening in D.C. The worste possible thing on this planet is having a religous controlled government. I do think religous Americans are total hypocrites when we slam on mid east countries and their barbarism. If christianity or whatever were running a country it would not be much different than the Taliban run Afghanistan.