IRS Warns Churches Against Campaigning

AP via Drudge ^ | Jul 18, 1:51 PM EDT

[Fedora]

Thanks! Coffin was at the forefront of Marxist infiltration of religious groups for many years, through SANE/FREEZE (Peace Action), CALC, RESIST, Riverside, etc. Powell's Covert Cadre has a whole chapter on him which includes some of the information you quote from Horowitz, and also mentions that Weiss originally pulled some strings to get Coffin appointed to his position at Riverside. The FBI's file on CALC (originally Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam, later just Clergy and Laity Concerned), it's got a lot of useful background information.

[Fedora]

This is about taxation, not free speech.

It's using the threat of taxation to repress (some) churches' right to free speech, which is a violation of the First Amendment by virtue of prohibiting the free exercise of religion, as well as by virtue of giving preferential treatment to religious groups that are not subject to taxation despite engaging in political speech regularly (as with the example of Riverside Church). For background on the historical context of this topic, a source you might find an interesting read is William J. Federer's The Original 13: A Documentary History of Religion in America's First Thirteen States.