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Comment by whatshisface | Hacker News Reader

It'd be helpful if you could provide further information, because I haven't heard of this before. Extraordinary claims and all that...

>It has become a little more evident recently with the emergence of evangelical Christian activism in politics

I thought evangelicalism has been strong on and off since America was founded; the rise now is closer to a return to the field after they were routed some time around 2008 (when they were getting a lot of press by losing debates about evolution and whether it should be taught in schools).

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Evangelicism has been strong since the founding, but it is more brazenly political now than it has been historically. There is actually a legal requirement for churches to stay out of politics in order to maintain their tax-exempt status. The enforcement of that has gotten more lax over the last few decades.

With regards to information about entanglements between religion and business, start with the LDS church, whose business entanglements are well documented.

But the journalism about the more general problem is is not very comprehensive, probably because it is a very fraught topic.

I know about the LDS (they have always wielded a lot of power), but Presbyterians?

Yeah, that came as a surprise to me too. And I have not verified this, but it came to me from a source that I consider reliable (a local real estate agent).

> There is actually a legal requirement for churches to stay out of politics in order to maintain their tax-exempt status.

Churches and charities can get involved in politics, including ballot issues and legislation. They just can't get involved in campaigns for specific candidates. In practice, the IRS is terrified of touching religious orgs so "anything goes" as long as the church isn't a straight up criminal enterprise.

IMO the actually important thing about churches is that they don't have to file a Form 990. I don't actually have much of an issue with churches getting involved in politics -- it happens on both sides and frankly the idea of religion being divorced from politics is a fairy tale anyways -- but I do wish every church had to file a Form 990 so the public (and congregants!) can see how this tax-free money is spent.

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