Church to become more political . Theis the area code in area. For the democrats, 202 7488000 and for republicans 202 7488001. If you are an independent, 202 7488002. If you want to join in the conversation go to facebook. Com cspan. We will get your calls and comments on the issue in a moment but first, frontpage story in the Washington Post. All eyes on france. The election taking place in that country. Frances divide mirrors the last in a piece this morning from the Washington Post. Ever since donald trump proved last november that anything is possible in the topsyturvy new world of western politics, may 7 has been circled on european calendars with a mix of anticipation and dread. The rightwing populist, the president ial election in france, a country scarred by unemployment and terrorism, seem offer forhe next big global order in their own nationalist and nativist and protectionist image. To the mainstream it looked like a possible third strike after trump and brexit with the potential to doom the european union, nato, and other members of the transatlantic alliance. If anything, the campaign has solidified the new fracture line in modern politics. The choice voters face on sunday illustrates the profound new chasm in the west between those who favor open, globalized societies and others who proposed close and nationalized ones. Voters facing a choice that faces mirrors a divide in the west. We will have more on the French Election later in the program and a reminder when we cover the debate that took place next wednesday last wednesday. It is available on our website at cspan. Org. This get your comments on the issue of religious freedom. Fromis another headline the Washington Post on president trumps executive order which really sets up what we want to talk about. These active order seeking to allow churches to engage in more political activity. Here is the president from the rose garden last week. This executive order direct target not to unfairly churches and religious organizations for political speech. No one should be censoring sermons or targeting pastors. Under my administration, free speech does not end at the steps of a cathedral or a synagogue or any other house of worship. We are giving our churches their voices back. We are giving them back in the highest form. With this executive order, we also make clear that the federal government will never penalize any person for their protected religious beliefs. That is why i am, today, directing the department of justice to develop new rules to ensure these religious protections are afforded to all americans. Groupsre more than 50 that sued the Previous Administration for violating their religious freedom. Were widespread. The abuses were all over. Steve the president in the rose garden joined by Vice President mike pence who had a key role in crafting this executive order on the issue of religious freedom. Some tweets coming in, this from separation of church and state was a wise move in crafting the basis of our nation. If political, they must be taxed. From jodey, most churches are only interested in your soul and not how you are going to vote in the next election. Another one, why does trumpcare about church . He has not attended since his inauguration which was his first time. We are going to make references to the Johnson Amendment, put in place by senator Lyndon Johnson. Description. Ic groups, taxexempt which the irs calls 501 c 3 organizations from endorsing for political campaigns. Because churches fall under the tax code the ban applies to them as well. Oh sherry in columbus, ohio. Do you think they will become more political . If you will read thomas statute of virginia religious liberty written in the 1780s and James Madisons memorial and you will find that they were both against getting any kind of religion that they had over in europe where the pope ran everything. Steve we do have a line set up for religious leaders and that 2027 488003. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan. You know, the religious right controls and imposes itself more secular moreing than the leftwing secular imposes and controls the rightwing religious conservatives. Steve and your point is . Caller we live in a secular society. We are still fighting each other. We are divided as a result. I actually dont believe in all of this Tax Exemption for any religious group of any denomination. We are fighting each other and we are being divided along religious lines and i dont understand why the push from the religious right is nonstop to try to control and try to manipulate and try to impose itself. Why are they so insecure . Why are they trying to tell everybody else to believe and think and act the way they want to act for themselves . Steve experiment for the call. From the week magazine, it is Available Online at the week. Com. Here is an excerpt. Trump sees questions christians the way he sees americans. This respected and vilified by outsiders just as he wants to reassert american interests abroad, he wants to defend the honor of the christians who voted for him at home. Many conservative christians see themselves as another embattled identity politics group. Trump is their defender regardless of his own sins and he lives in the white house. Catherine in springfield, massachusetts. Democrats line. Caller my kingdom is not of this world. [indiscernible] they told him to go down to the sea and the fish come up, pay for me and you. Right to go have no to the sea for everything. You cant legislate righteousness. Im doing that, the group that created all and put over the church. Nobody has the right to dictate to his church because he is the head of the church. Train theem to sabbath. These pastors have admitted the greatest crime in the world. Steve catherine from springfield, thanks for the call. My question, was this even necessary . The irs does not check for political speech. Dale says ive never been to a church that wasnt political. As long as there is no state church, who cares what they do . Daniel is next in washington, d. C. Caller when anyone opens the business they cannot discriminate. In your private home you can decide what to do but when you open a business you cant say you discriminate against religions, race, or sexual preferences. It is against the law. Listen. This presidency is trying to destroy gods creation by accelerating the climate disaster. This neanderthal cant be returning our country to the stone age. Understand the insane power we invested in the presidency. Now you see that the republicans have suppressed enough votes and manipulated enough election registration that this man got into office and we need to protect our country, our farms, our food, protect it with regulations and common sense legislation. The republicans havent had a good offer in years. I want you to remember, there is only one thing worse than republican and that is a democrat. Please dont forget that. Resist. On pay your taxes. Dont let this neanderthal ,ilthy rich creep from queens where i am from and i know what kind of bully he is. I grew up with them. Dont let them destroy this country or this world with a defeatingsaster and regulations. He is poisoning us. He is poisoning our food. Steve daniel from washington, d. C. Nancy pelosi releasing a statement opposing the executive order. Also some comments from senator Patrick Leahy on twitter. He talks about religious liberty. He can walk a lot by rescinding his unconstitutional muslim ban executive order. From the House Democratic leader saying president trumps executive order on religious liberty is a sad exercise unbecoming of our country. Pennsylvania, on the republican line. James, good morning. Caller im looking at it from a different standpoint because i think we have the wrong question. The question should be, should religious organizations have their First Amendment rights interfered with . They should be permitted to also engage in free speech. A lot of the issues of this day and age are moral issues and we expect religion to address that and not be harassed by irs agents for doing so. As far as the muslim ban goes there was no muslim ban. There was a band for countries that permanently happen to be muslim because the vetting background is extremely difficult for people to do. Theou cant verify information about somebody how can you say a vetting process is thorough . It isnt thorough and needs to be thorough to protect ourselves. I think hopefully we will get some of this stuff straightened out but religious leaders should not have to fear for the irs coming after them to audit them in order to discuss moral issues which many things, such as abortion today, our friend around. Steve thank you james from pennsylvania. This is from another viewer saying political churches and ministries should be taxed. The House Speaker paul ryan showed this week this tweet. I commend donald trump for defending religious liberty. French is is next from louisville, tennessee. You are taking this. Caller when the bill of rights was accepted, there were state churches and they remain that way for a long time. We had prayer in school. Not only in school. States demanded it and then the courts struck it down. Omebodys interfering the churches, from the beginning, had an Important Role to play in the country. They help us decide what is right and wrong. The 10 commandments are referred to throughout the early period of our history. We open congress with prayer. That religion is not out but some people want it to be. Religion has an Important Role in every buddys life and the government should not be an opponent. Steve on the republican line from tennessee. A couple of tweets from our viewers. Send us your comments or join us on facebook. Becausewhat churches do i carry a heavier tax burden because they dont carry a tax burden. Toe problem is if you want be taxexempt and benefit from it you should not be allowed to use that benefit in politics. From david, contrary to many believers we are not a christian nation. These groups are using religion for political purposes. From the center of american progress, she writes repealing the Johnson Amendment could taint the sanctity of the faith leaders message prompting congress to wonder if faith are based onngs religious texts or political benefactors. Even the appearance of outside influence could undermine faith leaders moral authority. That from the center for american progress. Stephen from kentucky. Good morning. Caller how are you this morning . Steve thanks for weighing in. Caller i wanted to mention a few things. They go along with this topic. The bigger question that i think we need to be acting asking is how are we going to eradicate the extremism overseas if we refuse to do so here . This war abroad has nothing to do with pitting one group against the other. Namely, in this case, christianity against islam. Rather, it transcends that and it is really about spirituality, which encompasses love, peace, healing, enlightenment, stability, the aesthetic which goes into the arts. Some people find faith in the arts. Liberty andpts like justice for all that have been around since the inception of our country. Religion, organized whether it be christianity, islam, judaism, they are all cut from the same cloth. Let me be clear about something because some people are going to say im antigod by saying this. I believe in god very strongly. Ive been in recovery from an illness for the past two years and my faith in god has gotten me through this. Im saying is it is not these philosophies that are the problem but rather the ruthless coterie of power hungry monsters that have bastardized these concepts the on recognition. Steve from prospect kentucky, thanks for the call. I hear some construction going on in the building. If you hear a coming sound above me that explains it. We welcome our listeners on cspan radio and coasttocoast on serious xm and channel 124. Rick says this churches, do what you want and pay your taxes. The white house issuing this tweet. Religious liberty is the First Amendment of our constitution as a founding principle of our nation. Don is joining us next from tennessee. Independent line. Good morning. Caller good morning. I find absolutely nothing wrong with what trump is proposing here. One of the principles of christianity is that you are in this world but you are not supposed to be of the world. There is nothing wrong with reminding your congregation to whatsponsible, to consider principles are at stake. And what kind of a world do you want to be in even though you are not supposed to be of it . What could possibly be wrong with that . It is not like they are sticking out a sign that does, support , sponsor hillary clinton, or whatever. They are not sticking a name out there. It is reminding people to be aware of the principles at stake. Steve thank you for the call. Another tweet from a viewer. Religious liberty usually leads to Southern Baptists and persecuting methodists. We have a line for religious leaders. Next from north fort myers, florida, good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. I just wanted to let you know, this is kind of rough to think about for a lot of people. It is for myself. I am definitely a person who believes in the lord and i try to do the best that i can and i am definitely not a racist person but as far as the president is concerned, with all of this banning of mexican people this and mexican people that, we really need to stop and think about the fact that and i dont know how to put this, im going to put this as delicately as possible and respectfully as possible the white man and the black man doesnt usually do a lot of farming. You cant get us out there in all truthfulness to pick these vegetables and crops that have to be presented by these farmers. To feed america. Is, by takinging these poor people out of the workplace or by causing them to be scared to go to work, it is going to hurt the farmers, it is going to kill americas farming and crops and all of that and everything is going to start imported. Grocery prices are going to skyrocket. This man is going to third world this country. There are already people who can barely afford groceries, people that are on food stamps. Expect isat does he going to happen . People are going to starve to death. He poor going to die. Farmers are going to hurt because they cant afford to pay wouldnt ormally not just people of a different color but people who normally wouldnt do this types of jobs like the Migrant Workers do. It is terrible. There are some big problems coming for this country, especially with this racist mexican thismexican that, no, people who come from exit code or any country for that fact, and that break the law, then they should be banned from coming into the country ever again, but steve im going to stop you there. Thank you for the call. A quick look at the new york times. What is it like to live in west palm beach, florida as the neighbor becomes president of the United States . Good morning from the new york times, also available at nytimes. Com. Hacking gives final jolt to francis cap collection. We have more on Emmanuel Macron and marine le pen. Macron is holding onto a lead but the numbers coming in today. Denny is running us from silver spring, maryland. Republican line. Caller i say, any executive boot of theifts the irs off the neck of the American People is a good thing. You should go ahead and make it a law. I hate the irs, i hate the threat of the irs, i hate the penalties, and now Somebody Just wants to practice their faith and the irs has the power to tax them . That is a bad thing. Hopefully, one day, we get rid of the irs. Steve thank you for the call. Father frank with priests for life has also issued a statement on president trumps executive order. It reads in part the right to act on ones religious beliefs is not unlimited but the federal government, by law, is severely forcected in what it can churches or religious individuals to do. Over the last eight years the Obama Administration ignore those restrictions, seeking to impose its will. No more. Trumps executive order is resetting a principal that has historically guided the federal government and protected our rights. Father frank weighing in on the order. Here is background on the Johnson Amendment. That video is available on our website at cspan. Org. Lets watch. I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment. An amendment pushed by Lyndon Johnson many years ago. President donald trump his eyes set on the Johnson Amendment, but if you are blanking on what that is, dont worry. We got you covered. In 1954, senator lyndon b. Johnson introduced a change to prohibitsde that nonprofits from directly or indirectly endorsing or donating to political candidates. If they do, they lose their exempt status. That includes universities and churches. An interesting thing is it had nothing to do with churches when it was introduced in 1954. Letervative nonprofits materials for folks to vote for johnsons primary vote which didnt sit well with him. He proposed a ban to protect his own seat and there was no church involved. At all. That is where the controversy is now. Trumps argument about the Johnson Amendment is that it infringes on the right to worship according to our own beliefs. That campaigning is a way to put your religious police to action. But the Johnson Amendment has not stopped religious organizations from endorsing candidates. In 2000, Jerry Falwell told churchgoers to vote for the bush of your choice. The irs has rarely punished any church for political statements. Because the amendment is part of the tax code, the only way to get rid of it would be through the legislative process. But as president , trump could have the irs not enforce it if you wanted to. If he wanted to. Steve some background on our topic for this sunday morning, do you want your church to become more