www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41145

IRS: Churches can't pray for Bush victory
Ruling says tax-exempt groups prohibited from asking God to intervene

a letter of clarification requested by a traveling minister, the Internal Revenue Service has declared people gathered in tax-exempt churches can't pray for President Bush to win the election on Tuesday.

The ruling comes in response to a request by the Christian Defense Coalition, which is in the midst of a 15-day prayer tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the organization, had planned to lead in prayer for a Bush victory during evening services in each town. Though he had hoped to hold the services in churches, Mahoney says he has used American Legion halls, hotels and other venues pending a clarification from the IRS.

The American Center for Law and Justice wrote the letter to the IRS on behalf of the Mahoney's group, explaining that the pastor planned to "offer prayer during the evening services in the churches he visits that God grants President Bush four more years as president and that Senator Kerry does not become president."

"This is rank censorship," Mahoney told WND. "If churches felt compelled to pray for Senator Kerry, they should be able to do that, too.

"Now we have the IRS not only limiting what can said behind a pulpit in terms of electioneering, but churches aren't even allowed to pray the dictates of their consciences."

Mahoney said he would consider legal action against the IRS, saying churches that had considered hosting the tour were unable to do so. He also said he considers his First Amendment rights to have been violated.

Reaction to the IRS ruling, Mahoney predicts, will include "massive anger" in the Christian community.

"Our organization, along with the American Center for Law and Justice, is going to make this a major issue," he said.

Mahoney considers the ruling a "much greater leap into censorship" than the prohibition on endorsing candidates from church pulpits.

"You hear people talk about the separation of church and state," he said. "This is a massive violation of the separation of church and state from the standpoint of the government intruding on the private dictates of churches."

Under IRS regulations, churches that are tax-exempt organizations cannot openly advocate for candidates for office and can only use a small percentage of their budgets on political activity.

As WorldNetDaily reported, an concerted effort is under way to get the IRS to crack down on churches that might push certain candidates or parties. In July, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, headed by Barry Lynn, filed a complaint with the IRS against Ronnie Floyd, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark., accusing him of preaching a sermon promoting President Bush's re-election July 4.

Quoted: O Church property during officially church events I have no problem with this.  There is a fine line between a church praying for someone and a church endorsing someone and then leading the congregation in prayer for that person. SGatr15

I have a problem with any gubment institution telling me what the fuck I can do or pray for period!

Brothers and Sisters gather round and listen to what Brother Hiram has to say... Lordy!  Can I get an Amen?

The devil... the DEVIL I say has done us wrong... can I get an Amen?

The oppressive hand of the government wants to tell us who we can pray for... ohhhh Lordy!

Jesus, said give Ceaser his due and give the Holy Father His... Well Ceaser isn't satisfied with his due and wants to deny God His!  Say it isn't so say it isn't SO!

Brothers and Sisters... it IS true... The devil says we can not pray for our president... we can not pray for four more years of the safety and strength he has provided!  If we do pray for the president we might lose our church.  Well, we can't afford to lose that... We can't afford to lose our congregation... so we will hold our prayers in our hearts if we can not voice the from the pews!  Can I get an Amen?

So Brothers and Sisters, please understand that the law says we can not pray for President Bush here today, but who we pray for at home is our business, who we pray for in the voting booth is our business and the devil ain;t gonna stop us!  Halleluiah!

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Nope, no need for prayer in church... just paint it as religious oppression that you can't, and fire up your base!

Quoted: There is a time and place for everything. Church isn't the place for politics.

It is if the politics are interfering with the way you want to worship, pray or believe.

Quoted: So, what is .gov going to do to enforce this? Encircle the church with JBT's and tanks, set it on fire, and shoot those that run out? wganz ¶

Nope, they'll just yank the church's tax exempt status. Does sound like they violated the tax code, though tax law makes me nauseous. I'd be pretty surprised if the IRS ever did anything to any mainstream church over this issue.

Quoted: My church owns about 4 acres of land, half of which is a cementary, plus a building, the parsonage, the van we use to transport those who can't drive, and enough cash to buy a good used car. I haven't seen your tax dollars lift a finger in my church.

Well it does sort of, your church recieves money in, which is uses to pay employees, keep the lights on etc, just like my business-however your church does not have to pay taxes on it's income, so it gets 100% of every dollar, I pay taxes and get around .50 on the dollar. Basically it gets the same government infrastructure as everyone else in the country without paying for it.

This is a bad example because it's more a county or state cost-but if the church starts on fire the fire department comes and puts is out but the church pays nothing towards supporting the fire department, or the military, or the highways etc. Part of keeping tax exept status is that the IRS limits the involvement of charities in politics. If the church gets involved in politics and loses it's tax exempt status it would not only have to pay taxes on the contributions the congregation makes, but you would also lose the right to deduct that from your taxes-which in a way also affects everyone else's tax burden because you pay a little less in taxes because you (I hope!) deduct your contributions to the church.

But then tax law wasn't exactly my best class so don't shoot the messenger.

Quoted: The church is not a for profit organization. It's primary purpose for existence is not political. But that does not mean that it is barred from anything political. The church is made up of PEOPLE who pay their taxes just like everyone else. (And even with the tax breaks on my church contributions, I still pay an ungodly ammount in taxes...) They have the right to organize around their faith and publicly stand for something, and the .gov has no buisness trying to penalize people financially for doing so.

Again I haven't looked at the tax code very much in about 20 years, but there is more to being a church than being non profit, there is a restriction on political activity, otherwise your NRA dues would be tax deductible. The church, just like the Boy Scouts or Red Cross, has to follow certain rules to keep it's status with the IRS, that you pay taxes isn't any different than the fact that I pay taxes and give money to the Boy Scouts or any other charitable organization. Your church can decide to not abide by those rules but then it's the church's fault if you can't deduct your contributions anymore.

I think this is a much ado about nothing, unless a church paints "Headquarters for John Kerry or George Bush" on the outside the IRS isn't going to do anything about it. It's a can of worms they don't want to open.

If church wanted to be free of any government interference, they shouldn't have asked government for the license to be a Church.

It's amazing that people will freely give up a right for a privilege and then complain later that the privilege doesn't encompass everything they want to do.


I still don't understand why a church would want to be a business, let alone a tax-exempt business.  If the congregation is so greedy that it demands that it's tithe money be deductible, they aren't giving it freely and the point is moot.  How much money is the congregation saving?  About 32% of 10%, or 3.2% of their income (assuming a 32% tax rate and a 10% tithe).  Seeing as most churchgoers don't really tithe, the numbers are probably much lower in reality.  For this lowly sum, people will hand over the power of their church to do what they want.

If the church wasn't a business, tax exempt or not, they wouldn't have any problems.  The IRS couldn't tell them what to preach, the state couldn't collect property taxes, the city couldn't tell the church they had to pay for a new stop light at the intersection in front of their building, and the list goes on.  For the lowly sum of tax relief you get from a 501 C(3) status on your church, you pay so much more, in money and in interference.


Blame in on the church, not the government.