Exempt From Scrutiny

Dr. Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, Arkansas, was castigated by liberals earlier this year for a sermon he gave in which he encouraged his congregation to "vote God". Anti-conservative alarmists immediately claimed the presentation implicitly endorsed Bush and that the pastor violated the church's tax-exempt status. Dr. Floyd, however, never mentioned either presidential candidate by name and never endorsed either one.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, John Kerry attended and spoke at a black church service with the "Rev." Al Sharpton and the "Rev." Jesse Jackson. FOX News reported he was introduced as "the next president of the United States", people in the congregation held Kerry-Edwards signs, and they were encouraged to vote for the Democratic ticket.

As usual, this will be ignored by those who are supposedly against church endorsements of candidates. There is an obvious double standard. The media are always trotting out some "legal expert" from the ACLU or whoever to argue against a conservative pastor and tell all the ways "righ-wing" churches are somehow violating the Constitution. But, apparently it's ok to allow Sharpton, Jackson, and the Dems to openly and blatantly violate the rules. To say otherwise would be "racist". That's what they want you to believe anyway. Maybe they're just afraid Jackson will try to extort them for money.