I do a fair amount of tax and non-profit work, so this question has always fascinated me: When will the IRS revoke a charitable institution's tax-exempt status due to political involvement? More interesting: When will it revoke a church's status? Although I've never researched it, it's always been my impression that American priests hide behind the exemption-revocation threat in order to avoid moral issues that might alienate their congregation, especially during the election season. But maybe my impression is wrong. One California church is under investigation for an anti-war sermon just a few days before the 2004 election. Link. Excerpt:
In his sermon, [Episcopalian Minister George] Regas, who from the pulpit opposed both the Vietnam War and 1991's Gulf War, imagined Jesus participating in a political debate with then-candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry. Regas said that "good people of profound faith" could vote for either man, and did not tell parishioners whom to support.
But he criticized the war in Iraq, saying that Jesus would have told Bush, "Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster."
On June 9, the church received a letter from the IRS stating that "a reasonable belief exists that you may not be tax-exempt as a church ”¦ " The federal tax code prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from intervening in political campaigns and elections.
