[Mercury News article]PASADENA, Calif. - One of the state’s largest and most liberal churches could lose its tax-exempt status because of an anti-war sermon that a former rector delivered two days before the 2004 presidential election, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
In his sermon, the Rev. George F. Regas did not urge parishioners at All Saints Episcopal Church to support either George Bush or his opponent, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. But he was sharply critical of the Iraq war and Bush’s tax cuts.
The IRS in a June 9 letter warned the church that its tax-exempt status was in jeopardy because the federal tax code prohibits such organizations from intervening in political campaigns and elections. The church’s current rector, J. Edwin Bacon, told his congregation about the problem on Sunday.
If this happens it will be ridiculous. It would honestly be difficult to count the number of pro-Bush Christian organizations that were very outspoken in the last election, but for some reason this one that was on the other side is being threatened. All you have to do is turn on the local Christian radio station any day of the week and you will probably hear a violation of this code within a few hours.
A long time ago I used to occasionally listen to a show by James Dobson’s organization; back then they called the show “Focus on the Family”, but I’m not sure what they changed the name to after they switched it to being a 30 minute session of telling their loyal followers to call their congress people and telling them what to say and how to vote.
In any event, I really hope that this particular church stands their ground, regardless of whether they keep their non-profit status. Although it would certainly be an unbalanced application of this law, it would be worth it to stand your ground and maintain your principles.
The most encouraging part of the article…
He said the IRS recently offered to drop the proceedings if the church admitted wrongdoing. The church declined the offer, he said.