If that's the case, then why are the IRS regs re: electioneering applicable to all 501(c)(3) non-profits, not just churches?
There is no "right" to tax-exempt status. If you accept it, you know full well what you're getting yourself into.
There's a real simple solution to all of this for churches -- abandon their tax-exempt status & electioneer as much as they want. Some conservative churches have done just that so they don't have to serve two masters.
Which came first, the IRS or the Constitution?
As if it were that easy to get out of serving your government master. The government owns you. You are their slave, regardless of which church you attend. Did you think this was a free country or something?
The real answer is for the citizenry to wake up and reclaim their birthright of liberty. Ditching the 16th amendment and abolishing the IRS would be part of that. UNtil that happens, we're just houseslaves, some more happy than others.
Pass the FairTax bill as the tax law for the country!! It eliminates the sort of controls mention in the first paragraph of this post. It will also increase purchasing power for almost every taxpayer AND it will greatly boost the economy of the country as well.
What he said.
Let me guess, you work at the IRS, right?
So you took LBJ's bait hook line and sinker. Churches in this country ALWAYS enjoyed tax exempt status without applying for anything. It was not until LBJ wrote an amendment to a bill that became law that made it a quasi-requirement that churches register. Prior to 1954 it was an assumed right of the church to be tax exempt. Now people assume this is some special previledge, but it is not. If there is going to be a separation of Church and State, there better not be any taxes on Churches.
If you read the IRS publications concerning 501(c)(3) organizations, even without applying for such status, Churches are still presumed to be tax exempt. Most people including accountants don't realize that, but it is how the IRS rules read.
There is. The right of people to freely associate for their own noncommercial purposes should not be infringed by taxation. The monies volunteered for the purposes and goals of the org are speech. Everyone knows the meaning of "BS walks and money talks".
What most folks don't get is that Freedom and the 1st Amendment's prohibition on infringement of Free speech goes beyond protecting simple words spoken in a closet. It covers association of folks with similar ideas and goals. It prohibits the govm't from ever promoting and sanctioning one groups goals and ideas over another's. The only valid justification for doing so is to identify and sanction rights violations.
The 1st Amendment says Congress can't pass any law that prohibits the free exercise of religion. Since the legislation that established 501(c)(3) organizations acts to do exactly that, then that legislation violates the 1st Amendment and is therefore null and void.
You see, according to the Constitution, it's the Congress that doesn't have the right to do what it's done, not the churches.