The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #116205   Message #2493994
Posted By: CarolC
14-Nov-08 - 02:20 PM
Thread Name: BS: Priest bars Obama Supporters from Communion
Subject: RE: BS: Priest bars Obama Supporters from Commun
That raises an interesting question. If an individual Catholic church (or Baptist, or Presbytarian, etc.) engages in overtly political behavior, and the government decides it wants to withdraw the tax exempt status of that church (congregation), would the government have to go to the people at the top, or could they just slap the judgment on the individual congregation separately from the church heirarchy or the other individual congregations within the larger church?

In other words, if one specific congregation engages in such behavior, does the government have to deal with the church as a whole, or can it deal with just that specific congregtion?