Don'cha love it when lefties get hoisted on their own petard?
It's about time.
It's about freakin' time. I can think of about a dozen churches they can hit in Cincinnati, including some Catholic ones.
This will get ugly. The double standard bearers will be out in force. "Politics" will trump facts.
I disagree with the IRS investigating any Church. It is sad that Churches don't have first amendment protection.
It's time for all churches to lose their tax-exempt status.
It is about time.
If a priest or pastor from a mainline non minority church dared to bring in a Republican candidate for any position from Dog Catcher to President, that church would lose its non profit status.
I raised hell about this back during the election.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1263034/posts
I actually had a sit-down with my minister on Sunday after service over where the lines should be drawn. There were some people in the church who were gathering signatures (in the lobby on Sunday morning) on a petition, which I would have signed gladly had it been presented to me in from of a supermarket. I expressed to him my concern that the church as body not be directly political. We cannot in good faith ask the government to stay out of our churches if our churches are not willing to stay out of the government. That's the deal you make when you file as a tax exempt organization.
I seem to recall a DU/MoveOn effort to get conservative churches investigated for the same thing in 2004, and only a few out of sixty-some were found out of compliance by the feds. Seems more have been appropriately added to the list recently.
Many churches have dropped or are considering dropping tax-exempt status to allow uncensored/unpunished speech from the pulpit. It's time.
bump
Bump for later
501(c)(3) specifics:
http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/article/0,,id=96099,00.html
THE CASE FOR CHURCHES TO REMAIN TAX-EXEMPT
1. Historically, churches were not taxed because our laws recognized the existence of God. In tax jurisprudence, only a greater entity can tax a lesser. Because no American governmental entity ever previously considered itself to be greater than God, God and His Church have not historically been taxed. Courts have considered the question of what judge would have jurisdiction over God in the event of nonpayment of property taxes. Because our American laws have traditionally recognized God, churches have not historically been taxed.
2. Churches offer a special function that is essential to all societies—one that government cannot as effectively provide. Churches guide people as they seek to make sense of life. They assist people in dealing with issues regarding God, self, purpose, failure, loss, sickness, disability, birth, and death. A society without answers to such meaning-of-life questions is jeopardized by people who view life as meaningless; and therefore, live for the moment in selfish and potentially reckless pursuits.
Full article at: http://www.christianlaw.org/tax-exempt.html
Ping.
Liberty City is, without a doubt, the WORST ghetto neighborhood in the United States. NW 79th Street makes Springfield Avenue in Newark look like Rodeo Drive.
No problem - the IRS needs to be informed that these politicians were Black Democrats, not Christians, so there was no mixing "religion and politics."