Back in November of 2012, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued the IRS because of the government agency’s “failure to enforce electioneering restrictions against churches and religious organizations.” Basically, churches were endorsing political candidates from the pulpit and the IRS wasn’t doing anything to stop it…. We don’t know the terms of the settlement, but the point is that the IRS now says it will enforce its own rules.
In a country founded in part on the separation of Church and State, it’s surprising (and rather disturbing) how much politics and religion are intermingled. Several states actually have laws on the books banning atheists from holding public office. That this is in direct contravention to the Constitution seems to matter not at all to those determined that America-hating atheists have no part in the public dialogue- a place rightly reserved for good, God-fearing American patriots. That their arrogance and intolerance contradict the teachings of the Jesus Christ they purport to revere is something to be addressed in more detail at another time.
The other part of the equation that’s well-known but almost completely glossed over is that most churches are tax-exempt. A requirement to maintain that exemption is that churches can’t engage in partisan political activity. Preachers cannot instruct their flock as to the “Christian” way to vote…if they want to maintain their tax-exempt status, that is. Large numbers of Conservative pastors and church leaders openly and knowingly flaunt this rule…because evidently their flavor of God is so mighty as to allow them to ignore the laws of mere mortals. The IRS has over time meekly acquiesced to this reality. They’ll tell you that it’s because their enforcement effort was hamstrung by not having anyone in the job responsible for ensuring churches aren’t engaged in political activity. That’s only part of the story; most of it has to do with a lack of will and a complete absence of political courage. No one’s wanted to take on churches and risk angering the Rabid Religious Right. (If you listen closely, you can almost here the cries of PERSECUTION!!!!!)
Now the IRS is (finally) indicating that it will begin ramping up enforcement efforts. To say that it’s about time would be something of an understatement.
The IRS has now resolved the signature authority issue necessary to initiate church examinations. The IRS also has adopted procedures for reviewing, evaluating and determining whether to initiate church investigations. While the IRS retains “prosecutorial” discretion with regard to any individual case, the IRS no longer has a blanket policy or practice of non-enforcement of political activity restrictions as to churches.
It’s not that churches don’t have the right to be politically active; they have every right to do so. What they DON’T have is the right to expect that they be allowed to have their cake and eat it, too. They can be politically active OR they can maintain their tax-exempt status. One or the other. By law, they cannot have both…yet that’s what so many on the Far Right have come to expect and demand.
(Ed. note: America is NOT a Christian nation, despite what the Religious Right claims. It’s a nation with a Christian majority and a secular political system. Big difference, no?)
American taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to subsidize the political activities of churches. It’s bad enough they get a free ride as it is, but that’s another argument (and an important one) for another time…. If churches have a specific political agenda, if they want to advance the interests of candidates and issues they consider sufficiently “godly,” they have the absolute right to do so. They don’t get to then also demand to maintain their tax-exempt status.
It couldn’t have come at a better time. The Christian Right group Liberty Counsel announced this week that it would be distributing 150,000 DVDs to pastors across the country encouraging them to “address biblical and moral issues” from the pulpit — which is evangelical code for “tell your congregations which way to vote” since the only thing pastors ever do is address biblical and moral issues from the pulpit.
(Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver added that if they didn’t send the DVDs, then Hitler would win: “We saw how the spiral of silence had devastating results in Nazi Germany. We need to stop the spiral of silence in America.”)
As much as I find the work of people like Staver to be objectionable and distasteful, I recognize they’re well within their 1st Amendment rights to advocate for whatever cause(s) get them through the night. What I object to is the expectation that my tax dollars will be used to support the sort of Christofascism Staver and his ilk advocate.
I hope the IRS will be true to its word and begin vigorously enforcing the section of the tax code that requires churches to refrain from partisan political activity if they want to be considered tax-exempt. Or they can begin paying taxes like the rest of us…and no, they don’t get to play the victim and claim persecution. The tax code is pretty clear…and it’s time churches be required to play by the rules.
