Religious Group Openly Challenges IRS

According to the Sept. 21, 2008, National Catholic Register, an Arizona-based Christian legal activist group declared "Pulpit Freedom Sunday," an IRS protest scheduled for September 28. The group encouraged pastors to defy the IRS's prohibition on political candidate endorsement by issuing political endorsements during Sunday services.

The group appears to be provoking the IRS to litigate the issue and insists that the Service's 54 year old prohibition on political campaign intervention will not survive a constitutional challenge.

The IRS states that to enjoy tax exempt status, the organization ". . . may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates." The campaign restriction is absolute. The IRS permits non-partisan voter education activities, but once a specific candidate is endorsed, the endorsing entity can lose its tax exempt status.

Not all religious organizations will be participating in the protest, of course. For example, a group of Catholic bishops described Pulpit Freedom Sunday as "pastorally inappropriate, theologically unsound, and politically unwise."

One might add "financially risky" to the description as well. Should the law be changed to permit religious folks to use their pulpits to campaign for elected officials, then religious organizations can engage in the activity. Until then, religious leaders who endorse candidates from the pulpit and continue to assert that they are exempt from taxes are committing fraud.