GUEST COLUMN, Marty Bohannon, Ottawa
Kansans know the strength of our communities comes from people helping one another — not from government edicts. Yet proposals in Washington threaten to inject politics into the pulpit by giving federal officials new authority over churches and nonprofits.
Our churches don’t need permission to preach truth or to serve the hungry. Food pantries, crisis pregnancy centers, and faith-based charities step in when families struggle, not because they’re political, but because their faith compels them.
If Congress empowers bureaucrats to decide which sermons or service projects are “acceptable,” then freedom of religion becomes a privilege instead of a right. That should alarm everyone, regardless of party.
The First Amendment wasn’t written to protect the popular — it was written to protect the principled. Kansans won’t sit quietly while Washington decides who is allowed to speak.
I agree let’s get religion out of politics. No more priest, nuns, ministers are to be involved in politics, if they are take their designated religion & church, religious lobbyist organization cancel all of their federal, State & local tax exemptions. If this doesn’t happen then politics will always be a big issue when it comes to effective governing. No religion is never to be welcomed in politics. Religious individuals are the worst and always speaking & encouraging issues detrimental to our political process to effective government. Thanks for giving me the accommodation to respond to your article. Frank