Church Membership based on Vote for Bush??

I know that this story is making the rounds on a lot of blogs and here in the local news in the Charlotte, N.C. area. This story brings out the following opinions in me.

First, I do not believe that church membership should ever be based on anyone besides Jesus Christ. I believe that you have to be a Christian, which includes a profession of faith and to be baptized as a sign of that covenant, is the only qualifications for church membership that I believe is taught.

Second, I agree that a pastor in the pulpit on Sunday should not publicly endorse a specific candidate, but that pastors should preach the Word of God. If the things that the Bible teaches tend to favor one candidate over the other, so be it. I know there are issues that are taught in the Bible that fall into the platforms for both parties, so the priority of the individual will help shape his political opinions. If someone feels that Abortion is the most important Biblical teaching, then they will probably vote Republican. If someone feels that "Helping the Poor and Widows" is the most important Biblical teaching, then they will probably vote democrat.

Third, the threat of taking away a church's "tax exempt" status over this, and see how the democrats used churches in the past campaign, just seems very Hypocritical to me. I remember John Edwards came and spoke to an African American church in the Charlotte region, and no one screamed for that church to lose their "tax exempt" status. I have seen both parties do this, and it does not really bother me or will not sway me one way of the other in an election. I believe that there are people in the IRS that would love to see this begin, and the dominoe effect that this would have on churches is very scary to me.