A pastor isn't allowed to share his religious views with his congregation without fear of their organization being taxed if they do? They are to be taxed for saying that abortion is a sin in the eyes of God and therefore Candidate X who opposes abortion in all but a very limited set of circumstances should receive the support of those who belong to the church over Candidate Y who espouses unrestricted access to abortions? How does that violate the separation of Church and State as established by the Constitution? Does it enact a statute which prevents the holding of public office by anyone not a member of a specific religion? Does it establish a State sponsored religion that all must support with their taxes whether or not they subscribe to those beliefs? Does it prevent anyone else from freely practicing their religion in accordance with their conscience?
Tell me exactly how endorsing Candidate X over Candidate Y from the pulpit violates the separation of Church and State annie. Tell me how reading a letter from Pope Benedict which might endorse a specific candidate for public office from every pulpit on the basis of the principles of the Catholic faith violates the separation of Church and State, let alone having a single priest in a single parish do that.
Tell me why that expression of religious belief should be allowed to be taxed, let alone taxing someone for what their constitutionally protected speech, the most important of which is political speech, contains. That would be the equivalent of telling a newspaper that publicly endorsing a candidate in their paper would subject them to the levying of a tax that they can avoid if they refrain from that practice. It is an attempt to regulate speech, and religious expression, via the tax code; there is simply no other reasonable conclusion that can be drawn under the circumstances.
