Obama and the United Church in Christ are back in the news

More unpleasantness for Barack Obama and his membership in the United Church of Christ. This time, however, it goes beyond his own church, Reverend Jeremiah Wright's Trinity UCC.

From the Daily Herald:

Barack Obama and his church are back in the news.

The United Church of Christ had until Thursday to answer Internal Revenue Service questions posed in February about Obama's speech to the UCC's national conference in June 2007.

Obama's appearance, the IRS stated in a letter to the UCC, might have violated federal law governing churches' tax-exempt status.

But Obama is hardly the only candidate or elected official to speak in a church or religious organization. Appearances at church services, in fact, have become almost a requisite part of political campaigns at all levels.

The article goes on to explain in Chicago, particularly in African American congregations, speeches by candidates on the pulpit are a long tradition, and that the IRS has only once revoked the tax-exempt status of a church.

Here is the letter the national office of the UCC received from the IRS.

This part of his speech at the national conference seems pretty political:

At every opportunity, (conservative religious leaders have) told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design,

There was even a time when the Christian Coalition determined that its No. 1 legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich. I don't know what Bible they're reading, but it doesn't jibe with my version.

As I noted last year when I blogged about Obama's speech, there is no evidence that "tax cuts for the rich" were the Christian Coalition's "No. 1 legislative priority."

Making the Bush tax cuts permanent is currently the No. 5 legislative priority of the group, and the emphasis of the Christian Coalition's appeal is that the tax cuts help families and small businesses.

There's nothing there about "the rich."

Audacity!

Technorati tags: Obama politics Barack Obama Illinois Chicago religion African-American Democrats United Church of Christ Christianity election taxes IRS Christian Coalition