• A law giving pastors and churches the right to speak
needs to be passed. Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) proposed a bill that would restore freedom of
speech to pastors. The Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration
Act (HR-235) would strip the Internal Revenue Service of their
authority to punish a church or temple for speaking out on issues
that could be deemed political. Some see this as a danger because
it would mix religion and government. In reality the bill
would release religious organizations from the
government’s grasp, because it will no longer be able to punish them for
their opinions. This bill, if passed, gives pastors the chance
to speak without worrying about the government punishing them.
Marci Hamilton says that she supports this bill because it
“does not give religion a special privilege to speak; rather, it
restores religion's right to speak. And that should not be controversial
at all - for the voices of religious entities are crucial to a free
society.”[64] Organizations such as Americans United think that it is
dangerous to mix religion and politics.[65] The truth is that religion has
had a positive impact on politics and the government
throughout America’s history.