Though I imagine this will earn a sputtering chorus of “Christianist!” and “Flying Spaghetti Monster!” and other such nonsense from the Party of Maher (thoroughly spanked by Mr. Polansky), I’d like to point out Tara Ross’ latest column in DTO about a group of pastors whose preaching this Sunday will constitute an act of civil disobedience.

As Tara points out, it’s a relatively recent phenomenon that political talk from the pulpit means flirting with losing a church’s tax-exempt status. And it wasn’t a result of some grand constitutional debate about separation of church and state; it was the work of LBJ, who crafted legislation in 1954 to combat some secular 501(c)(3) groups who were opposing his re-election to the Senate:

Ironically, LBJ’s intent was not to harm religious groups… . LBJ’s legislation did not specifically mention churches; it merely forbade all 501(c)(3) organizations from participating in certain political activities. Churches got caught in the crosshairs of a political shot that was never aimed at them.

There are probably a few of you out there who are a bit uneasy with the idea of a pastor telling his flock which candidate to vote for. Considering it as a matter of theology, I would be uneasy about it too. But a libertarian and conservative commitment to free speech involves more than just a rejection of recent incumbent protection—err, campaign finance laws.

Read the whole thing.