Church Under IRS Threat For Political Stance...

I am sure that lots of liberals will try to connect the dots with the following...

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.

However, it is important to remember that its the IRSes job to collect taxes and is not directly responsible to keep churches out of the political arena since there is a separation of church and state in the US. However, with the set-up this is what they effectively achieve.

Also, there have been other churches that have lost their tax exempt status such as a church in Binghampton, NY that urged its congregation to not vote for Bill Clinton in 1992. So its not an issue of partisanship.

Since my Dad is a preacher, I am aware of several run ins with the IRS over a couple of tax related benefits offered to churches and ministers that are frequently attacked.

Its the nature of the beast and don't think for a minute that this is a free speech issue as they claim. Its not, they are a church and can speak freely but cannot have church tax free status if they do so. Imagine all the "churches" opening up if they were allowed to freely engage in politics and the potential abuse. Imagine the Church of the Latter Day Democrats. Egads.