The National Religious Broadcasters and two high-profile Texas-based churches have filed a complaint against the Internal Revenue Service in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas.
The basis for the complaint was their belief that the nonprofit tax status under 501(c)(3) prohibiting them from endorsing or opposing candidates was unconstitutional, impinging upon their rights of free speech.
The filing on Aug. 28 also complained that other nonprofit organizations, including nonprofit newspapers, college publications, and progressive organizations and churches make political statements and endorse candidates without repercussions.
NRB president Leroy Miller said in reference to the legal filing ,“we believe that all nonprofits should have the constitutional right to freely express their point of view on candidates, elections, and issues on the ballot.”
The greatest benefit that organizations classified as 501(c)(3) receive is the ability of donors to deduct their contributions from their taxes. If a church switched their status to 501(c)(4), they could speak freely on candidates, elections and political issues, but would lose their tax benefits.
If churches are allowed to participate in political campaigns, tax-free donations to the churches could be spent to support a political candidate. This would not only shift the burden of funding the candidate to the taxpayer, religious organizations would become big money players in politics.
The division within the IRS responsible for overseeing churches and charities is the Tax Exempt and Government Division. TEGE created a webpage entitled Charities, Churches, and Educational Organizations-Political Campaign Intervention. It referenced a definitive court case on the issue of free speech and political expression “Branch Ministries Inc. vs. Rossotti”.
In that case, the court upheld the constitutionality of the ban on church political activity. The court rejected the plaintiff church’s allegations that it is being selectively prosecuted because of its conservative views and that its First Amendment right to free speech was being infringed.
The court wrote: “The government has a compelling interest in maintaining the integrity of the tax system and in not subsidizing partisan political activity, and Section 501(c)(3) is the least restrictive means of accomplishing that purpose.” However, nonpartisan voter education activities and voter registration drives remain legal.
For the last 15 years, over 2,000 churches from coast to coast have participated in a “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” purposely violating the law to provoke the IRS. This illegal action was initiated by the conservative legal group “Alliance Defending Freedom,” which is active in Tennessee politics and an adviser to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
According to an article in the rightwing Christian Post, Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, paid an IRS fine after giving a sermon prior to the 2020 presidential election. His remarks included a statement declaring, “you don’t have to vote for Trump” but that “a vote for Democratic candidates ran afoul of biblical principles”.
Lew Kingsbury retired from a career working in the Defense Sector. For seven years he was a reporter for the Cryer newspaper in midcoast Maine. He is the author of “COVER-UP: How the FBI Hid the True Origins of the 9/11 Terrorist Attack.” His book can be found of Amazon Kindle.
From The Progressive Populist, November 15, 2024
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