One hundred and thirty members
of the U.S. House of Representatives cosponsored a bill that would allow
houses of worship to exploit their tax-exempt status for partisan political
campaigns. The new "Houses of Worship Political Protection Act"
(HR 2357) "amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit churches
and other houses of worship to engage in political campaigns."
The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, argues
that "our spiritual leaders should feel free to speak on moral
and political issues of the day, including talking about candidates
for public office and where they stand on the issues. If a minister
believes that one candidate best reflects that church's moral beliefs,
the IRS should be in no position to deter him and her from saying so."
As a kind of compromise, Rep. Philip Crane of Illinois sponsored a bill
(HR 2931, the Bright-Line Act of 2001) that allows churches to spend
up to 5 percent of their annual gross revenues on political campaigning,
or 20 percent on activities to influence legislation. HR 2931 fails
to explain how the IRS would figure out what proportion a church devotes
to religion and what to political campaigning and lobbying. Like Mr.
Jones, Mr. Crane wants to make it legal for tax-exempt churches, synagogues,
and mosques to engage in undisguised partisan politics. The existing
law already gives all tax-exempt entities the right to influence legislation,
as long as that does not constitute a "substantial part" of
their overall activities. Enacting the Jones bill or the Crane bill
would give religious organizations preferential treatment over tax-exempt
charitable, educational, scientific, and literary organizations.
Complaints abound about tax-exempt religious groups violating the prohibition
of political activities. Rev. Pat Robertson, the president of the tax-exempt
Christian Coalition, for example, sponsored automated phone calls to
voters that tried to help Governor Bush by criticizing Senator McCain's
record. Dozens of churches have been offering their pulpits for campaign
speeches to their favorite politicians, such as President Clinton, Governor
Bush, Vice President Gore, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Governor Mario Cuomo,
Mayor Marion Barry, and many others.
Rarely has the IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of churches. During
the 1992 Presidential elections, a church at Pierce Creek, Arkansas,
purchased a full-page advertisement in two newspapers denouncing Bill
Clinton. At the bottom, the ad stated: "tax-deductible donations
for this advertisement gladly accepted." That plea for illegal
donations apparently prompted the IRS to cancel the congregation's tax-exempt
status.
If churches can endorse and financially support political candidates
and even create political action committees, the donations of their
members could massively increase the funds available for campaign finance,
especially to candidates skilled in exploiting faith-inspired causes.
Since many churches are faced with widely different political allegiances
among their members, they could face divisive decisions about their
involvement in political campaigns.
The chief lobbies for HR 2357 are Rev. Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition,
Concerned Women for America, Rev. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries,
and Rev. Walter Fauntroy's New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington,
D.C. They have so far collected some 100,000 petitions for the bill.
H.R. 2357 seems to have impressed the House leaders so much that they
allowed Rep. Jones to bring his bill directly to the House floor for
a vote. That may come any time.
The prohibition of partisan political involvement for tax-exempt religious
groups has greatly helped to protect the religious integrity of America's
churches. Hitherto most of them have followed the advice Jesus gave
to the Pharisees (Matthew 22, 21): "Render …to Caesar the
things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
"When they heard it," Matthew reports, "they marveled."
Ironically, Rev. Robertson and his followers no longer marvel at Jesus'
wisdom. They want to end the separation of church and state, and so
do all those Congressmen who favor partisan politicking in houses of
worship financed with the tithes of the faithful.