February 21, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Religious conservatives are lobbying Congress seeking legislation that would permit “churches and other houses of worship” to take a stand in political campaigns.
Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., Republican of North Carolina, introduced a bill last year designed to partially reverse a 48-year-old tax law that bars all charities from endorsing candidates for political office. Charities other than churches would still be barred from engaging in political campaigns.
The religious groups supporting the bill argue that churches should be allowed to support or oppose political candidates through sermons, mailings, advertisements and other forms of communication.
Under current law, churches and charities must not participate in political campaigns in support of, or in opposition to, candidates for political office. Those that do so risk losing their tax-exempt status.
For decades, the law was rarely enforced. However, conservative and evangelical churches have become increasingly involved in campaigns, drawing complaints from watchdog groups. In 1995 the IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of one group, the Church at Pierce Creek, for running full-page advertisements against President Bill Clinton in USA Today and The Washington Times. The IRS decision was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (The Chronicle, June 1, 2000).
Conservatives charged that the Internal Revenue Service has selectively enforced the law, penalizing only groups that endorse conservative candidates or oppose liberal ones. However, a report issued by the Joint Committee on Taxation two years ago found “no credible evidence” that tax-exempt groups were singled out for examination by the IRS based on their political views.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a watchdog group in Washington, opposes Representative Jones’s bill, saying that changing the law would allow conservative political groups “to convert churches into cogs in their political machines.”
The legislation, which has 111 cosponsors, has not been scheduled for a hearing by the House Ways and Means Committee.
