Not so long ago..
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry delivers a speech
(AFP/Hector Mata)
Posted on 11/07/2005 6:56:34 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES - The Internal Revenue Service has warned a prominent liberal church that it could lose it's tax-exempt status because of an anti-war sermon a guest preacher gave on the eve of the 2004 presidential election, according to church officials.
The Rev. George F. Regas did not urge parishioners at All Saints Episcopal Church to support either President Bush or John Kerry, but he was critical of the Iraq war and Bush's tax cuts.
The IRS warned the church in June that its tax-exempt status was in jeopardy because such organizations are prohibited from intervening in political campaigns and elections.
The church's rector, J. Edwin Bacon, told his congregation about the problem Sunday.
"It's important for everyone to understand that the IRS concerns are not supported by the facts," Bacon said.
Bacon later said he chose Sunday to inform the congregation because Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu was in attendance and because he believes a decision from the IRS is imminent. He called the IRS threat "a direct assault on freedom of speech and freedom of religion."
An IRS spokesman in Washington declined to comment Monday, saying he could not discuss particular cases.
Some All Saints members said they feared the 3,500-member church was being singled out for its political views.
All Saints has long been vocal about its positions. Its Web site mentions the upcoming special election in California and says three Republican-backed propositions would "alter the very fabric of our lives as a democracy by limiting the right to representation and the right to express a political point of view." Regas, who gave the 2004 sermon, retired 10 years ago as the church's rector.
Marcus Owens, the church's tax attorney and a former head of the IRS tax-exempt section, said the agency offered to drop the proceedings if the church admitted wrongdoing. The church declined the offer, he said.
The IRS has revoked a church's charitable designation at least once. A church in Binghamton, N.Y., lost its status after running advertisements against Bill Clinton's candidacy before the 1992 presidential election.
Episcopal ECUSA says it all
FRom earlier today.. SanLuisObipso.com
Pasadena church faces federal sanctions for anti-war sermon ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1517306/posts
Imagine if your church couldn't speak on abortion.... that's exactly their aim by targeting this man - to set a precedent so that churches can't make political statements.
This is just the first step in the process of going after the conservative churches. They've got to take down a token liberal church before they can open up with both guns on the conservative ones.
This is really an indirect attack against fundamentalism.
It's a shame when AP reporters can't be bothered to learn the proper usage of "it's".
I think he should be able to speak on any issue he wants.
He should not be able to campaign for a specific candidate, but if he wants to say the Iraq war is immoral, that's his perogative.
And if my pastor wants to say homosexuality is immoral, ditto.
This whole thing reeks of First Amendment violations.....they may be wrong, but they have a right to be wrong.
Yeah. IMO, the best thing we could do is tell them to take their tax exempt and.....ah pay the tax and be free.
Regas is my husband's old pastor. The guy has not changed, he's just gotten older.
There is nothing wrong with this. Tax exempt churches are entirely free to speak out on ISSUES but not candidates. We used this to great effect with Proposition 22 (gay marriage ban) in 2000.
Unfortunately the libs have gotten churches so scared in recent years it is a constant battle to assure the pastors and clergy that it speaking out on moral political issues is completely legal.
To be honest, I am concerned about this case because liberals will wave this example around to intimidate people of faith from being involved in public policy. While there are bad churches, the vast majority of people of faith are our voters and huge chunk of them are notoriously apolitical.
I agree. It's a setup, trap.
The maggots at this church are definitely violating the so-called "wall of separation." Yank their tax-exempt status! Now!
Not so long ago..
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry delivers a speech
(AFP/Hector Mata)
I think this church did nothing wrong. They did not tell their parishoners how to vote. If they can nail a church for it's stand on the war, they can nail a church for it's stand on abortion.
While we can disagree with the politics of this church, I think we need to stand behind it on it's right to speak freely behind the pulpit. This is a bad precedent.
They can be as wrong as they like but they have no constitutional right to be tax-exempt. Newspapers have to pay taxes and they're also covered by the First Amendment, too.
I actually don't see any reason why churches should be tax exempt.
Conservative churches were assailed during the Clinton years. The Christian Coalition published Voter Guides (see http://www.cc.org/voterguides.cfm) which did not promote any particular candidates, but merely listed how politicians had voted on issues which should be of importance to Christians (abortion, gambling, etc.). They were sued and had to stop distributing these guides directly to churches.
I think churches are tax-exempt because they qualify as non-profit corporations...
But that said, I don't think the government should be threatening churches with reprecussions for what their pastors preach....that's a dangerous road to start traveling down.
Exactly right. Ultimately, it will probably advance into other areas, like non-profits with partial of full tax-exempt status.
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