Why can't the church just be the state? Wouldn't that make it easier?

Our first winners come from the great state of Tennessee, where a local media outlet has picked up on a movement by the Alliance Defense Fund [I'm not linking that crap, you can Google it if you like] to encourage ministers across The South (actually, the whole country, but I'm assuming most of the takers are here) to endorse political candidates from the pulpit, claiming freedom of speech.

Someone forgot to tell them that freedom of speech doesn't equal freedom from the consequences of your speech. But hey, look on the bright side - they'll help reduce the budget deficit when they have to pay taxes on all those tithes for a whole year.

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=135560

"For governor, I'm going to encourage people to vote for Bill Haslam," said David Shelley, pastor of Smith Springs Baptist, one of seven Tennessee religious leaders who plan to take part in the pulpit protest. He also will throw his support behind Republican congressional candidate David Hall and Republican statehouse candidate Jim Gotto and urge his congregation to skip the spot on the ballot where state Sen. Thelma Harper, a Democrat, is running unopposed.
"My support for these candidates has nothing to do with their party or their skin color or any other non-biblically related issue," he said.
Haslam's campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the endorsement.
Shelley knows he runs the risk of provoking the Internal Revenue Service into revoking his 60-member church's tax-exempt status. In fact, he's hoping the IRS will try. But this is the second year he's baited the IRS from the pulpit, and still the agency has not risen to the bait.

Go go IRS! [how often do you get to say that and mean it?]