Posted on 03/18/2015 4:46:00 AM PDT by HomerBohn
No, the title of this article is not hyperbole and yes, the title is accurate. The IRS sometimes has their agents pose as clergymen to deceive church parishioners in attempts to gain information from them surreptitiously.
I kid you not.
Reverend Patrick Mahoney is the Director for the Christian Defense Coalition and he told the Christian Post that, “It is an absolute disgrace that IRS undercover agents can pose as members of the clergy. It is the role of government to protect religious freedom and the First Amendment, and not to use it to gather information and spy on American citizens.”
The IRS says that they do not believe that agents had ever posed as clergy members to gain information from privileged relationships but they would not say if agents had ever posed as clergymen to obtain information that was not privileged!
It is entirely possible that IRS agents have pretended to be clergymen to hear a churchgoer give confidential information to use against the church or other targets – like someone giving confession in a confessional booth, or seeking advice from a pastor.
The IRS rules explicitly state that agents may pretend to be clergymen if the need arise.
IRS“An undercover employee … may pose as an attorney, physician, clergyman, or member of the news media” and may “request information from an attorney, physician, clergyman, or other person who is under the obligation of a legal privilege of confidentiality and the particular information would ordinarily be privileged.”
I understand that sometimes our government needs to use deception to get the bad guys, but certain things should be out of bounds. Also, the IRS is not the kind of agency that should be going after “bad guys.” Especially after their problems in simply dealing equitably with conservative Americans. If we can’t trust the IRS with simple tasks that should be easily accomplished without bias… how in the world can we trust them with actual investigations?
We can’t.
Here’s how Reverend Mahoney put it when he spoke to the Christian Post.
“When one considers that the IRS under President [Barack] Obama has had serious charges of using the IRS for political intimidation and harassment of people that the White House considers it opposes, like conservative groups, religious organizations, this just adds another level to those charges and concerns. Is the IRS investigating churches and ministers who’ve said they cannot, in good faith, comply with Obamacare? These are very serious questions when you have a government agency sending undercover agents in as clergy to gather information and spying on American citizens.”
Seriously.
I’ll bet money that they’re not in black churches.
Or mosques, where they need to be.
“I’ll bet money that they’re not in black churches.”
That would guarantee success of the mission
I wonder if they would try to spy on Anton Levey’s Church of Satan?
The chances of getting caught decrease dramatically if you NEVER talk to anyone about whatever activity they or others they may be interested.
The IRS also will control DeathCARE, Election Fraud,
and DNC attacks on whites, Christians, Jews, Hindus,
and Republicans.
The IRS is also in charge of redistribution of
American wealth to foreign countries and criminal
illegal aliens.
Why does it exist?
Now that there’s some gooooood governmenting!
FedGov looks at Iran as a friend and U.S. citizens as the enemy. Something is very wrong.
——Why does it exist?-——
IRS is a synonym for Gestapo, secret police
“A police force operating in secrecy and outside the normal boundaries of law and hidden from the public, usually in support of a totalitarian government’s political policies to suppress political dissent through the use of methods such as (but not limited to) intimidation, violence, and surveillance”
Isn't it a felony to impersonate a doctor?
Where is that separation of church and state that the Left trots out when Christians speak out against killing babies? As usual, there are no laws of God or man the Left obeys if it interferes with their lust for power.
I’d like to see IRS agents impersonating human, patriotic Americans, and reporters impersonating investigative, COTUS-protected watchdogs of liberty, and politicians impersonating representatives of us and COTUS.
That doesn't sound very practical but it illustrates the need to get to know who your preacher really is and not just blindly follow a church.
Source cites not one example of this actually happening
What I find far, far more tragic is that congregants, or perhaps whole congregations, could be so easily duped into thinking an IRS agent is mistaken for a man of God or a Christ follower.
Tragic? Yes. Surprising? No. Look at who they follow regularly!
Cold it be that rotting corpse propped up in the oval orifie?
He's not dead, he's just a parasitic zombie sent up from hell to destroy us.
Reminds me of the movie “The Lives of Others”, only they’re not doing the spying electronically.
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