Churches and free speech
The IRS is investigating a Southern California church on the grounds that it engaged in political advocacy against President Bush. The church may lose its tax-exempt status.
The probe stems from an antiwar sermon by a guest speaker, delivered two days before the 2004 presidential election at Pasadena's All Saints Episcopal Church.
The guest speaker was the Rev. George F. Regas, who in his sermon opposed the Vietnam War and 1991's Gulf War.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Regas "imagined Jesus participating in a political debate with then-candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry." But Regas endorsed neither, saying that "good people of profound faith" could vote for either man.
Regas did, however criticize the war in Iraq, the Time reports, saying that Jesus would have told Bush, "Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster."
The IRS responded with a letter to the churh saying that "a reasonable belief exists that you may not be tax-exempt as a church … "
According to the federal tax code, churches and other tax-exempt organizations cannot intervene in political campaigns and elections.
Having listened to the full audio of the sermon, I'm not sure why the IRS has chosen to bark up this tree.
The sermon is critical of both men for seeing war as an effective reaction to terrorism.
He also criticizes both Kerry and Bush for not dealing the campaign with poverty. In words that presaged the lessons of Katrina and New Orleans, he described that as a "moral failure."
But some other parts of the sermon are aimed squarely at President Bush. The president should not determine whether a woman should or should not have an abortion, Regas said.
He also noted the increase in abortions during President Bush's administration.
And he criticized conservative politicians for wanting to dismantle social programs that aid the poor.
Yet, as it turns out, the All Saints case is not isolated. Reports the LA Times: "The IRS has looked at more than 100 tax-exempt organizations across the country for allegations of promoting — either explicitly or implicitly — candidates on both ends of the political spectrum."
So far, none those organizations has lost its nonprofit status, but investigations of about 60 of them are ongoing.
Comments (4)
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I have mixed feelings on this subject, but I do find it very hypocritical that many of those who criticize Bush for being too overtly religious and mixing church and state, look the other way when churches allow critics of Bush to use their pulpit to influence elections. It's like it's okay to mix church and state if you're on the Left, but not the Right. The "Religious Right" is a threat to our liberties, but the "Religious Left" is not.
If churches are used for campaign speeches disguised as sermons for either party, they should lose their tax exempt status.
Posted on November 16, 2005 12:41 PM
Sam, I agree. But the sermon in question, which I listened to in its entirety, did not cross that line in my opinion.
Posted on November 16, 2005 2:51 PM
Having done a good bit of research into the issue of political advocacy by tax-exempt organizations in the mid-1990s, on both the politics and the religion beats, I'm confident that if the IRS follows its own rules, the LA church in question has nothing to worry about.
Posted on November 16, 2005 3:32 PM
I question the whole tax-exempt thing for churches anyway. As a believer, I fear that it sets up a potential compromise for the Church.
I blogged about it here.
Posted on November 16, 2005 5:46 PM