lotstodo
aka "The Jackal"
My FB is ablaze with "stories" about the IRS doing atheist bidding and specious comparisons to illegally targeting conservative organizations. I'm sure many of you have heard the same thing.
Here is the truth:
In 2009 an atheist organization asked the IRS to investigate "Pulpit Freedom Sunday". This was a day when it's organizers, Alliance Defending Freedom, a fundamentalist Christian legal organization, set aside for cooperative church groups to openly defy the 60 year old rule baring 503(c) tax exempt groups from specifically advocating for or against an individual political candidate. The IRS agreed to investigate. In 2012, the same group, The Freedom From Religion Foundation, filed suit in Federal Court stating that the IRS not only ignored the agreement, but knowingly and purposely refused to enforce the law in regards to the open protest which had become an annual event held on a Sunday in August. With no legal leg to stand on, the IRS again agreed and settled out of court.
Now lets be very plain here, the IRS is not going to go into your Church, hide in the back pew, and monitor your service, which is the current hysteria. That's hogwash. That is unless it's August 14 and yours is a Church that has signed up to participate in the "protest". The IRS doesn't give a hoot if your pastor preaches against abortion, gay marriage, drinking on Sunday, dancing, cussing, gambling, sex outside of marriage, or what have you. The IRS doesn't care if your Pastor asks you to carefully consider the list of candidates running for office and to choose the one that best follows whatever principals the church espouses. The Pastor may speak for or against pending legislation. If you invite him over for supper, you can discuss individual candidates because he is acting as an individual citizen and is not acting as a representative of the tax exempt organization. What the IRS does care about is your Pastor giving a campaign speech on Sunday and asking you to vote for John Doe. What the IRS does care about is your Preacher standing at the pulpit and running down Fred Smith by name for being pro abortion. That's it. There is a huge difference between the popular meme and this reality. The IRS is simply enforcing the law in the face of well known and very specific violations of the tax exempt agreement between a small but growing number of Churches and the IRS.
In response, the Alliance Defending Freedom has prepared guidelines for what is legally acceptable and not acceptable political speech from the Church. This in itself is a great deal of what the Freedom From Religion Foundation was asking for. If participating Churches follow these simple guidelines, then there should be absolutely no punitive action on the part of the IRS, and one would assume that should member Churches mind their P's and Q's, the IRS can use the fact of this compliance to lighten up next year.
I know this is an intelligent group and I hope that you see the difference between campaigning for an individual candidate from the pulpit and preaching the Gospel. By the way, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has to play by the same rules, and I am sure you also understand that by being so vocal they have indeed opened themselves up to the highest level of scrutiny.
Here is the truth:
In 2009 an atheist organization asked the IRS to investigate "Pulpit Freedom Sunday". This was a day when it's organizers, Alliance Defending Freedom, a fundamentalist Christian legal organization, set aside for cooperative church groups to openly defy the 60 year old rule baring 503(c) tax exempt groups from specifically advocating for or against an individual political candidate. The IRS agreed to investigate. In 2012, the same group, The Freedom From Religion Foundation, filed suit in Federal Court stating that the IRS not only ignored the agreement, but knowingly and purposely refused to enforce the law in regards to the open protest which had become an annual event held on a Sunday in August. With no legal leg to stand on, the IRS again agreed and settled out of court.
Now lets be very plain here, the IRS is not going to go into your Church, hide in the back pew, and monitor your service, which is the current hysteria. That's hogwash. That is unless it's August 14 and yours is a Church that has signed up to participate in the "protest". The IRS doesn't give a hoot if your pastor preaches against abortion, gay marriage, drinking on Sunday, dancing, cussing, gambling, sex outside of marriage, or what have you. The IRS doesn't care if your Pastor asks you to carefully consider the list of candidates running for office and to choose the one that best follows whatever principals the church espouses. The Pastor may speak for or against pending legislation. If you invite him over for supper, you can discuss individual candidates because he is acting as an individual citizen and is not acting as a representative of the tax exempt organization. What the IRS does care about is your Pastor giving a campaign speech on Sunday and asking you to vote for John Doe. What the IRS does care about is your Preacher standing at the pulpit and running down Fred Smith by name for being pro abortion. That's it. There is a huge difference between the popular meme and this reality. The IRS is simply enforcing the law in the face of well known and very specific violations of the tax exempt agreement between a small but growing number of Churches and the IRS.
In response, the Alliance Defending Freedom has prepared guidelines for what is legally acceptable and not acceptable political speech from the Church. This in itself is a great deal of what the Freedom From Religion Foundation was asking for. If participating Churches follow these simple guidelines, then there should be absolutely no punitive action on the part of the IRS, and one would assume that should member Churches mind their P's and Q's, the IRS can use the fact of this compliance to lighten up next year.
I know this is an intelligent group and I hope that you see the difference between campaigning for an individual candidate from the pulpit and preaching the Gospel. By the way, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has to play by the same rules, and I am sure you also understand that by being so vocal they have indeed opened themselves up to the highest level of scrutiny.
