On Churches, Politics, and Tax Exempt Status....

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

Given the comments of Pr. Pfleger and the calls from several people that Trinity United Church of Christ should lose its tax-exempt status, I think some folks around here need a refresher course in tax law. The first thing to understand is that the Internal Revenue Code is unclear (at best) at what constitutes impermissible participation in the political process by a 501(c)(3) entity.

While churches may never provide direct financial or material support to any candidate or campaign, there is a good deal of grey area regarding almost everything else.

A clergyman may endorse a candidate, even from the pulpit, as long as he or she makes it clear to the congregation (and particularly to agents of the U.S. Treasury Department) that he is speaking on his own behalf and that his views do not represent an official or unofficial endorsement by the congregation or its denomination.

Political candidates may speak in churches, even from pulpits, as long as opposing candidates are offered the same opportunity. Churches and other non-profit organizations have no restrictions with regard to voter education, registration and participation activities -- provided that it is done in a non-partisan manner. Even a church in a 100% African American neighborhood, where the vote is expected to go 90% or more Democratic, may engage in this activity without it being deemed partisan.

Organizations may distribute voter's guide that highlight only their issues and that have strong biases for or against a certain candidate -- provided that they don't specifically advocate for or against a candidate. However, gross oversimplifications and distortions of a candidate's position are all fair game. What Would Jesus Spin?

All that being said, the IRS does not have guidance that draws clear lines over which a congregation or a clergyman man not cross without trigging sanctions. All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena was the subject of a three-year IRS probe because the church's former Rector delivered an anti-war sermon on the Sunday before the 2004 Election, then urged his congregation to "vote their values" on Tuesday.

The IRS ultimately dropped the case without explaining what the church did wrong or its reason for ending its inquiry -- I think most people can reasonably assume that this was an attempt by the Bush Administration to "send a message" to liberal churches and had no relation to actual enforcement policy by the IRS. But that's why both liberal and conservative churches have complained to the IRS that they need rules so congregations can avoid trouble.

Now in the case of Pr. Pfleger, he was a guest at Trinity who spent about 30 seconds mocking Hillary Clinton, without ever saying that she should NOT get the nomination or that Sen. Obama SHOULD get the nomination. The idea the Trinity would lose its tax-exempt status over the comments of a guest speaker, and comments that clearly did not advocate for or against the nomination of either candidate, is simply misreading the law.

And truth be told, I'm not sure if primary elections are covered under 501(c)(3) as "candidate" is not an elected position. But we'll save that argument for 2012

[chaplainM]

1. Test for eligibility for tax exemption

I propose that all churches should pass the same test that appears in I Kings 18 before they qualify for a tax exemption:

37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. .38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
.39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.

No magic fire = no tax dodge.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

3. I can do the same thing with a 40 lb tank of propane

nt

[Connie_Corleone]

2. I tried to tell someone this, but they were too busy hyperventilating.