I think I've written on this before, but it may have been as much as two years ago, so here it goes. When you see cops running traffic by a Church or business or whatever, and stopping traffic on the road to let people in and out of the church/business, that's bribery. These cops are not on duty, so basically the Church or business is bribing them to use their police power to favor one group (the people going in and out of the parking lot) over another (the people driving by on the street). This has become an accepted activity, but it's definitely bribery. I can't think how it's different than paying a cop to look the other way when some shady deals are going on. You're paying the cop to use (or not use) his police power to favor (or not favor) you. I've racked my brain on this issue for a while, and cannot come up with any reason why this is not bribery, so next time a traffic cop stops you in front of a Church, ask him how he can sleep at night while taking bribes.