The Extremes of Opponents of Prop 8

Some of the opponents of Proposition 8 have suggested that those religious organizations that supported the initiative should lose their exempt status. For example, one San Francisco activist named Sharone Negev said "The Mormon church overstepped its boundaries by being a tax-exempt organization. They clearly are not supposed to be involved in political activities."

There is pretty good law on the other side which suggests that while churches cannot endorse candidates they can indeed become engaged in initiatives especially ones which challenge fundamental doctrines.

I wonder whether, if this issue starts to move forward whether the congregation of All Saints Pasadena, the Episcopal parish which faced an IRS assault a few years ago for the remarks of its retired priest, will join in defending the churches which chose to support the initiative. In that fight, several conservative churches defended the right of the retired priest to espouse thoughts that the IRS was alleging violated the acceptable bounds of activity for churches. The parish argued that the retired priest’s remarks were more in the context of defending religious doctrine than in endorsing a candidate.

In both the All Saints issue and this one, religious institutions need to have some latitude in expressing their beliefs. In the case of All Saints, I thought the retired priest came awfully close to stepping over the line. In the case of the two church organizations that supported Proposition 8, I thought they were in bounds. In both cases I disagreed with the position taken by the religious institution, but in both cases I would support defending their position.