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Donald Trump is campaigning at a Florida church today. Is that allowed?
President Donald Trump will bring his campaign to an Apostolic megachurch in the Miami suburbs today for a rally widely seen as a response to calls for his removal for office from some in the Christian community.
A basic question about the event begs exploration: Is this even legal?
There’s a longstanding federal prohibition on churches engaging in politics dating back to President Dwight Eisenhower’s administration. Churches that violate the law imperil their coveted tax exempt status.
How, then, can King Jesus International Ministry in Kendall host Trump’s campaign?
The answer, most likely, is it can’t, legal experts agreed. But they also said there’s little that will be done about it.
“There’s not very much enforcement by the IRS on this,” said Ellen Aprill, a professor of nonprofit law at Loyola University Marymount. “So a lot of compliance is voluntary.”
Throughout the history of American politics, candidates have often spent time in church pews as part of their campaign to win over religious voters. Democratic contenders for president have visited mosques in Iowa and New Hampshire and black churches in South Carolina in their race for the party’s nomination.
But rarely, if ever, has a president held a rally at a house of worship like the one Trump has scheduled for today. In King Jesus International Ministry’s 7,000-seat auditorium, Trump will launch Evangelicals for Trump and he’s expected to make a full-throated pitch for the country’s religious right to coalesce behind his campaign.
The event was announced a week after Christianity Today, a leading evangelical magazine, published an editorial calling for Trump’s impeachment.
Maggie Garrett, the vice president of public policy at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said she couldn’t recall any previous candidate for president holding a comparable political event. Rather, it’s the latest instance of Trump flouting political norms and sprinting past a line that candidates traditionally run up to or sometimes stick a toe over.
Donny Jr Hembree
Amen
Varnel Watson
right about now we need to pray HARD saints Daniel J Hesse Hugh Lowrie Nelson Banuchi William DeArteaga the country is fixing to be in a shock It aint about President Trump no more I know he is trying to get out of it with the evangelical support and the mini war on IRAN but this is fixing to be a more serious problem than intended Shows USA weakened and now everyone wants to take a shot – especially at the evangelical churches Forget witness – this is about existence James P Bowers Jim Price Ray E Horton
Varnel Watson
BTW when Hugh Lowrie said While the President’s support from white Evangelicals is solid, I for one wouldnt employ so lightly such political demagogy in church Senate leaders wrangled on Friday over the terms of President Trump’s impeachment trial, deepening their impasse and throwing the start date further into doubt amid disputes over whether to call witnesses or introduce documentary evidence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/us/politics/trump-impeachment-senate-trial.html
Not sure how your comment fits the mission of God for 21 century America? GOD is in complete control. He gives office and takes office away – same goes with elections in democracy. We either believe GOD is completely sovereign and in complete control or we blame it on the bipartisan model GOD allows it all for a reason
Hugh Lowrie
It has been a common practice for Presidents to visit churches to make campaign pitches of some kind. Why is it that you are now asking if that is legal when President Trump does the same? And keep in mind, this wasn’t a Sunday service but a conference organized to support the President. Are you suggesting that every special interest group can organize for political purposes except Christians? That is complete nonsense!
Varnel Watson
I am not asking if it is legal I am observing 3 common steps taken by several POTUS in order 1. wage war in the Orient 2.raise gas prices following 3. visit an evangelical church asking for prayers Clinton and Obama did it Makes no difference of partisan attempts to keep office
Varnel Watson
Hugh Lowrie lets see if I can answer your questions of concern a bit more simplified way
Clinton had his targets and sent Miloshevish to war crime tribunal
Bush had Sadam caught and executed
Obama sunk Bin Laden in the high seas
now Trump did Suleimani
As a commander myself with several missions and boots on the ground I can each of POTUS thinking as our commander and chief BUT my question to you is WHERE does this put us in the mission of GOD? – each of these steps were not such a cover up of presidential screwups BUT also brought about the solemn and sovereign plan of God for our democracy The question to all of us in the evangelical church now is about the effect this act of war on Iran will have on the Christians there as well as our evangelical churches in the USA
Steve Losee may have the answer for all of us after all We need to take securing our nation’s borders very serious. With the huge rise in individuals claiming asylum, we truthfully don’t know enough about those individuals past, much less their true intentions. Drug cartels are the ones that control our southern borders and they do not care about human lives, it’s all about the moneyhttps://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/prepare-for-iran-sleeper-cells-to-strike-rural-america/
Hugh Lowrie
I don’t see the removal of this terrorist having an impact on our local Evangelical churches. And it is too soon to know if it will make Christians in Iran, Turkey & Iraq more safe or less safe. It could mean some missionaries coming home, turning over their work to locals. That has happened at various times in the past and God has used it for His purpose to multiply His work.
Varnel Watson
Hugh Lowrie I cant help what you can see or not Just read my comment below https://www.newsweek.com/iran-agents-storm-church-tear-down-cross-100-year-old-christian-place-worship-1437382
Hugh Lowrie
Troy Day – so if your question is whether we will see News Week, CNN, The New York Times and other media outlets that hate the President suddenly talking about the church in the middle east being persecuted, the answer is yes. The fact that they have shown no interest before now to highlight that persecution doesn’t mean that missionaries or Christians in the middle east are or will be less safe. It only means that the media will now have the motivation to report on their plight. But that is a good thing.
Hugh Lowrie
Soleimani’s death will be a blow to the Iranian theocracy but – contrary to what many observers are warning – could very likely temper the clerical oligarchs, who tend to retreat in face of American determination.
Varnel Watson
President Trump praised Tucker Carlson along with other conservative Fox News stars. “We have great people,” Trump said.
A few hours later Carlson tore into Trump’s decision to authorize the US airstrike that killed Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani. Newly revealed documents paint an incriminating picture, showing administration officials anxiously struggling to follow orders from Trump himself despite concerns that the order could go against the national security interests of the United States and warnings from the Pentagon that it could be illegal.
****
The emails are the portrait of a corrupt policy and an effort to conceal it — a tug of war between two sets of government officials, one side trying to protect American security and follow the law, another working to enforce direct orders of the President of the United States.|
****
National security officials were blunt as they described a range of retaliatory possibilities inside the US and abroad. The goal, one administration official familiar with the briefing said, was to make sure lawmakers were “cleared-eyed” about the possibilities for Iranian retaliation and that nothing was sugar coated.
The official told CNN that the administration wanted to make it clear it couldn’t rule out retaliation within the next few weeks — or even months — given how Iran historically has responded to what it views as acts of aggression against the regime. https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/04/politics/trump-iran-intel-retaliation-concerns/index.html
Varnel Watson
Hugh Lowrie pls read my update above Do not ignore it – it answers your question in full before you ever asked it BUT this is not your old days Obama stand off with Iran and the Iranian deal This is a major development with 3rd in charge liquidated on their own soil The international community is already on call – the one thing that you always fail to address – our part on the Mission of God with the people of Iran is no more – we cannot evangelize people we have attacked I’ll be praying for my pastor and evangelist friends as you make final preparations for your services today. May the Holy Spirit touch and transform lives in your churches and ministries today!
That’s more important than arguing over a military strike, an upcoming impeachment trial, or most any other thing happening in the world today.
Our life change is about eternity. The world problems are all temporary, very short term. Don’t use your precious time, energy, and limited attention span of your people on those things today. Talk about what really matters and determines eternal destinies, not this week’s positions.
Varnel Watson
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/01/04/Rocket-fire-reported-in-Baghdad-near-US-Embassy/7131578164412/?ur3=1
Varnel Watson
https://www.foxnews.com/world/us-military-says-2-rocket-attacks-landed-near-american-troops-in-iraq-but-none-harmed-statement
Michael John Dadd
The Lord will protect Trump
Varnel Watson
Hugh Lowrie https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/05/middleeast/iran-soleimani-khamenei-adviser-intl/index.html
Varnel Watson
pls NOTE the prophetic significance of THIS even under Obamas very bad Iranina deal we had NO such escalation
Varnel Watson
Hey Twitter
Does your violence policy still apply to this post?
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1213593975732527112
You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people. We also prohibit the glorification of violence….. We will immediately and permanently suspend any account found to be posting violent threats.