Shameless radical religious leaders are breaking the law while living off you and me - It’s time to cut them off from the “free lunch” of tax exemption
This is all true but leaves out the most egregious example of religious tax exempt violations: the Catholic Church. The U.S. Council of Bishops, a 501(c)3, maintains lobbying offices in all 50 states and has exerted tremendous influence over abortion bans. Their other big issue is lobbying against any attempt to expand the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases. This criminal enterprise should be first to lose its tax exempt status.
"IRS rules prohibit[ing] 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofits from engaging in partisan campaigns"
Partisan is the crux of the matter. It is partisan for religious institutions to endorse or support a political party or candidate, BUT they can support political policies. A policy doesn't become partisan because the majority of its supporters are of one party. Therefore, religious institutions can advocate (such as lobbying and placing ads that advance policies-- but not parties or candidates) and support policies in the political realm.
I am thankful The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., worked to eliminate racism and the polices that kept it in place, and did so by using non-violent civil disobedience. He used the teachings of his religion to justify both his anti-racist stance and his strategy of non-violent civil disobedience. If he had said vote for a certain candidate or political party that would have been wrong. To stop the horrendous abuse by churches and other non-profits of their tax-exempt status, the current laws should be enforced. Lax enforcement encourages violation of laws.
Thank you Thom for this article. I’ve been saying for years to “tax the churches!” It has bothered me for a long while that televangelists and mega church organizations are not taxed. The pastors’ extravagant lifestyles are obscene to me, especially while saying the hypocrisy out loud about Jesus and his teachings. Granted there are churches that are legit and have very active charitable activities. But the exorbitant wealth of many of the mega churches are suspect to me for corruption and dark money political manipulation.
This is really interesting to me, because along with other friends, I have done a fair amount of advocacy work at my (Episcopal) church. The way we understand it, we can take positions that are in line with our beliefs on issues, but can't tell people to vote for particular candidates. Thus we are supporting Measure 114 here in Oregon, which is a gun safety issue. We collected signatures on the marriage equality measure that would have been on the ballot had the Supreme Court not acted. However, I will never forget what Bishop Gene Robinson once said (he was the first gay bishop, that caused a lot of controversy in our denomination)--he said that if tax exemptions keep us from speaking truth to power, we should let the tax exemptions go.
Absolutely! Just as the right talks about enforcing the gun laws on-the-books, we need to enforce the tax laws. No doubt this is another reason Republicans don't want the IRS to finally be able to do its job.
I remember Bush senior's "A thousand Points of Light" program. It was just another way for the right to shirk their responsibility when in office. They knew the Constitution mandates promoting the general welfare of the people, but why do your actual JOB when you can export it to those not obligated to spend the money in a fair and equal way?
Redirection of government funds and tax-relief empowers religious leaders and ensures "Power to the People" is stifled. This is just one more way the right likes to pick the winners and losers. The winners are the ones that agree with their stifling ideology.
Organized religion to me has always been about controlling your will to be free. It's convincing people they must do as their god "says" or they will never be worthy. That tracks with Republicans thinking people at the top deserve IT ALL! I find that disgusting.
It's the lobbying part that irks me. A few larger religious organizations hire someone whose only job is to milk the government (ie taxpayers) of charitable funds - then smaller religious organizations see what the larger ones are doing and go after the funds as well. This should be put to a halt, so thanks Thom for pointing this out.
If you consider yourself a non-evagelical, non white-nationalist, non-segregationist christian, but a christian nonetheless, check out Faithful America as alternative. https://act.faithfulamerica.org/signup/about-us/
Organized religion has served a useful purpose in creating a civil society through community formation as far back as time records.
America is desperate for more "community" in local areas. Why not make any community building organization "Tax Exempt" under the banner of Freedom of religion. The rule is that they need to have attendee's and they need to prove they are actively improving the community.
I'd give every citizen $500 a year in vouchers to join a Tax Free community in their area. It would greatly improve the nation and it would stop bothering us what these phony evangelical pastors are doing.
The founders of America were correct and had great wisdom: They knew the dangers of Religious Passions in all the global religions throughout history. At all cost they cautioned us to keep Church and State separate. Limiting free speech inside our churches to matters of faith in return for operating via tax-free funds has seemed a very viable and pragmatic solution fpr 200 years.
However, people who follow their faith and belong to church families, regardless of church denominations, have developed decades of painful blisters listening to the liberal belittling of their life styles, and faith. And, People of Faith are not convinced that the lack of Faith and the associated lack of an actionable and comprehensive moral life style model has been good for America over the last 50 years.
As in all things human, the excesses of massively rich evangelists, and the deeply flawed life style of rich people such as Mr. Trump, surely should both be addressed, when they profess to be 'people of faith,' and use tax dodges to shelter their income and life style.
Yanking the tax exempt status of churches featuring leaders and pastors who are openly addressing their flocks on Sundays with deliberate a deliberate and specific political agenda should be a matter of following the laws adopted to keep Church and State separate. But, similarly, it should be just as clear that yanking the corporate charters of all the corporations who are run by our ultra conservative elites and have zero qualms about criminally flaunting our financial tax laws.
The liberal press, and Mr. Hartman, would do well to treat churches and its faithful with great caution between 2022-24. They are NOT a top priority for voters. The corporations and the global corporate cartels are much more effective.
Mr. Hartman's citations:
It’s hard to find a successful televangelist or major evangelical pastor who is not now a multimillionaire, presiding over a multi-million or even billion-dollar empire within America’s multi-billion-dollar-a-year religious industry. And they got there, in part, because you and I are subsidizing them.
Modern history, particularly since 1954, proves the wisdom of Madison and Jefferson‘s concern.
If right wing religious leaders want to tell their followers how to believe, how to behave, and how to vote, that’s fine. That’s their right in a nation that celebrates both free speech and freedom of — and freedom from — religion.
Churches, after all, have been telling their members how to behave since the beginning of organized religion. Social and political control exercised through religion is nothing new: it’s at least as old as the Bible.
"IRS rules prohibit[ing] 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofits from engaging in partisan campaigns"
Partisan is the crux of the matter. It is partisan for religious institutions to endorse or support a political party or candidate, BUT they can support political policies. A policy doesn't become partisan because the majority of its supporters are of one party. Therefore, religious institutions can advocate (such as lobbying and placing ads that advance policies-- but not parties or candidates) and support policies in the political realm.
I am thankful The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., worked to eliminate racism and the polices that kept it in place, and did so by using non-violent civil disobedience. He used the teachings of his religion to justify both his anti-racist stance and his strategy of non-violent civil disobedience. If he had said vote for a certain candidate or political party that would have been wrong. To stop the horrendous abuse by churches and other non-profits of their tax-exempt status, the current laws should be enforced. Lax enforcement encourages violation of laws.
This is all true but leaves out the most egregious example of religious tax exempt violations: the Catholic Church. The U.S. Council of Bishops, a 501(c)3, maintains lobbying offices in all 50 states and has exerted tremendous influence over abortion bans. Their other big issue is lobbying against any attempt to expand the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases. This criminal enterprise should be first to lose its tax exempt status.
"IRS rules prohibit[ing] 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofits from engaging in partisan campaigns"
Partisan is the crux of the matter. It is partisan for religious institutions to endorse or support a political party or candidate, BUT they can support political policies. A policy doesn't become partisan because the majority of its supporters are of one party. Therefore, religious institutions can advocate (such as lobbying and placing ads that advance policies-- but not parties or candidates) and support policies in the political realm.
I am thankful The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., worked to eliminate racism and the polices that kept it in place, and did so by using non-violent civil disobedience. He used the teachings of his religion to justify both his anti-racist stance and his strategy of non-violent civil disobedience. If he had said vote for a certain candidate or political party that would have been wrong. To stop the horrendous abuse by churches and other non-profits of their tax-exempt status, the current laws should be enforced. Lax enforcement encourages violation of laws.
Thank you Thom for this article. I’ve been saying for years to “tax the churches!” It has bothered me for a long while that televangelists and mega church organizations are not taxed. The pastors’ extravagant lifestyles are obscene to me, especially while saying the hypocrisy out loud about Jesus and his teachings. Granted there are churches that are legit and have very active charitable activities. But the exorbitant wealth of many of the mega churches are suspect to me for corruption and dark money political manipulation.
This is really interesting to me, because along with other friends, I have done a fair amount of advocacy work at my (Episcopal) church. The way we understand it, we can take positions that are in line with our beliefs on issues, but can't tell people to vote for particular candidates. Thus we are supporting Measure 114 here in Oregon, which is a gun safety issue. We collected signatures on the marriage equality measure that would have been on the ballot had the Supreme Court not acted. However, I will never forget what Bishop Gene Robinson once said (he was the first gay bishop, that caused a lot of controversy in our denomination)--he said that if tax exemptions keep us from speaking truth to power, we should let the tax exemptions go.
Absolutely! Just as the right talks about enforcing the gun laws on-the-books, we need to enforce the tax laws. No doubt this is another reason Republicans don't want the IRS to finally be able to do its job.
I remember Bush senior's "A thousand Points of Light" program. It was just another way for the right to shirk their responsibility when in office. They knew the Constitution mandates promoting the general welfare of the people, but why do your actual JOB when you can export it to those not obligated to spend the money in a fair and equal way?
Redirection of government funds and tax-relief empowers religious leaders and ensures "Power to the People" is stifled. This is just one more way the right likes to pick the winners and losers. The winners are the ones that agree with their stifling ideology.
Organized religion to me has always been about controlling your will to be free. It's convincing people they must do as their god "says" or they will never be worthy. That tracks with Republicans thinking people at the top deserve IT ALL! I find that disgusting.
It's the lobbying part that irks me. A few larger religious organizations hire someone whose only job is to milk the government (ie taxpayers) of charitable funds - then smaller religious organizations see what the larger ones are doing and go after the funds as well. This should be put to a halt, so thanks Thom for pointing this out.
If you consider yourself a non-evagelical, non white-nationalist, non-segregationist christian, but a christian nonetheless, check out Faithful America as alternative. https://act.faithfulamerica.org/signup/about-us/
Organized religion has served a useful purpose in creating a civil society through community formation as far back as time records.
America is desperate for more "community" in local areas. Why not make any community building organization "Tax Exempt" under the banner of Freedom of religion. The rule is that they need to have attendee's and they need to prove they are actively improving the community.
I'd give every citizen $500 a year in vouchers to join a Tax Free community in their area. It would greatly improve the nation and it would stop bothering us what these phony evangelical pastors are doing.
The founders of America were correct and had great wisdom: They knew the dangers of Religious Passions in all the global religions throughout history. At all cost they cautioned us to keep Church and State separate. Limiting free speech inside our churches to matters of faith in return for operating via tax-free funds has seemed a very viable and pragmatic solution fpr 200 years.
However, people who follow their faith and belong to church families, regardless of church denominations, have developed decades of painful blisters listening to the liberal belittling of their life styles, and faith. And, People of Faith are not convinced that the lack of Faith and the associated lack of an actionable and comprehensive moral life style model has been good for America over the last 50 years.
As in all things human, the excesses of massively rich evangelists, and the deeply flawed life style of rich people such as Mr. Trump, surely should both be addressed, when they profess to be 'people of faith,' and use tax dodges to shelter their income and life style.
Yanking the tax exempt status of churches featuring leaders and pastors who are openly addressing their flocks on Sundays with deliberate a deliberate and specific political agenda should be a matter of following the laws adopted to keep Church and State separate. But, similarly, it should be just as clear that yanking the corporate charters of all the corporations who are run by our ultra conservative elites and have zero qualms about criminally flaunting our financial tax laws.
The liberal press, and Mr. Hartman, would do well to treat churches and its faithful with great caution between 2022-24. They are NOT a top priority for voters. The corporations and the global corporate cartels are much more effective.
Mr. Hartman's citations:
It’s hard to find a successful televangelist or major evangelical pastor who is not now a multimillionaire, presiding over a multi-million or even billion-dollar empire within America’s multi-billion-dollar-a-year religious industry. And they got there, in part, because you and I are subsidizing them.
Modern history, particularly since 1954, proves the wisdom of Madison and Jefferson‘s concern.
If right wing religious leaders want to tell their followers how to believe, how to behave, and how to vote, that’s fine. That’s their right in a nation that celebrates both free speech and freedom of — and freedom from — religion.
Churches, after all, have been telling their members how to behave since the beginning of organized religion. Social and political control exercised through religion is nothing new: it’s at least as old as the Bible.
Amen, brother!
"IRS rules prohibit[ing] 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofits from engaging in partisan campaigns"
Partisan is the crux of the matter. It is partisan for religious institutions to endorse or support a political party or candidate, BUT they can support political policies. A policy doesn't become partisan because the majority of its supporters are of one party. Therefore, religious institutions can advocate (such as lobbying and placing ads that advance policies-- but not parties or candidates) and support policies in the political realm.
I am thankful The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., worked to eliminate racism and the polices that kept it in place, and did so by using non-violent civil disobedience. He used the teachings of his religion to justify both his anti-racist stance and his strategy of non-violent civil disobedience. If he had said vote for a certain candidate or political party that would have been wrong. To stop the horrendous abuse by churches and other non-profits of their tax-exempt status, the current laws should be enforced. Lax enforcement encourages violation of laws.