Worthy News: Senate passes lobbying bill without restricting free spee

[George]

By a vote of 55-43, the Senate approved an amendment Jan. 18 that struck the controversial section of an ethics reform bill that would have threatened churches and pro-family groups with fines if they failed to register their actions with the government when informing people on moral issues.

http://www.worthynews.com/news/bpnews-net-...y-asp-ID-24801/

[nebula]

From the link:

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Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, earlier called the proposed lobbying legislation

[forrestkc]

The problem with this all is that it is kind of a fine line.

On one hand, we should not be muzzling churches and other organizations. On the other, churches and faith based organizations should not be using the tax exempt status to campaign for candidates or political parties and those "voter information guides" usually do just that.

Groups like "Concerned Women for America" are nothing but political lobbying organizations.

The other side of this is pointed out by Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington:

"The public deserves more transparency of such political nonprofits, says Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, a watchdog group.

She calls Focus on the Family Action's efforts to rally support for its issues "AstroTurf lobbying."

"It's misleading lobbying," Sloan says. "It makes it appear as if there is a mass movement in opposition or in support of a piece of legislation when that doesn't really exist. It's generated. It's to fool lawmakers."

Sloan notes that the provision emerged last year in the aftermath of lobbyist Jack Abramoff's guilty plea to corruption charges. Abramoff allegedly drummed up a phony grassroots campaign to convince lawmakers to oppose American Indian gambling, aiding a client's existing tribal gambling interests.

[JustinM]

Since our government leads our country and influences the society and it's laws, our churches should have every right to point out the ones that are trying to change America against the will of the majority of the people. Why can't the federal government govern, and let the state governments run their states the way they want to?