The preachers’ revolt: Dobson-affiliated church group encourages breaking the law, endorsing candid

[True_Blue]

Source: Daily Planet

In 2006, Pastor Mac Hammond stood up before his Living Word Christian Center audience in Brooklyn Park and said, “I can tell you personally that I’m going to vote for Michele Bachmann, because I’ve come to know her, what she stands for.” That speech prompted the attention of the Internal Revenue Service for violation of the church’s tax exempt status. The IRS sent the church a letter telling the church it cannot endorse politicians from the pulpit. Despite ample evidence that suggested Hammond knew that what he was doing was illegal, the case was closed.

Now an Arizona-based front group for the religious empire of James (Focus on the Family) Dobson, the Alliance Defense Fund, is encouraging en masse violation of the IRS rule that prohibits clergy from endorsing political candidates. They’re asking ministers of kindred spirit across the country to endorse presidential candidates on Sunday, September 28.

Dubbed the “Pulpit Initiative,” the gambit represents a bet on lax enforcement by the IRS and, ultimately, a free-speech-based challenge to the law by a very conservative US Supreme Court.

Read more: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/09/13/preachers-revolt-dobson-affiliated-church-group-encourages-breaking-law-endorsing

[Bubba Ho Tep]

1. And I hope they do a massive revocation of tax exemption to them all.

Churches have turned into big business and something needs to be done about it.

[SemperEadem]

7. I say that Monday, September 29th should be

"IRS snatch away your exemption" date and each church has to prove that it didn't endorse candidates on that date. Those that didn't won't have a problem proving that they didn't. Those that did will be the ones who will balk.

Seems easy enough to me.

They can't have it both ways. You can say what you want from your pulpit, but you have to pay taxes if you talk politics and encourage your members on who to vote for from said pulpit. If you don't want to pay the taxes, then dont' let your mouth write a check that your church can't cash.

[rpannier]

11. By that line of reasoning

Suspects in crimes should have to prove they didn't do it instead of the state having to prove that they did.

If someone makes a false accusation against a Church or religious official it should be the responsibility of the state to prove they did in fact break the law -- not the other way around.

[nebenaube]

29. not really...we no longer have that right. n/t

[DeSwiss]

2. K&R!!!

[Joe Bacon]

17. Tax them!

It's time to take these welfare queens off of the "faith-based" gravy train!

Make 'em pay if they wanna play! Tax all churches! Make them do that "Render under Caesar" shtick!

[Stellabella]

3. The tax exemptions these charlatans get are criminal.

I hope they all go broke.

But that won't happen with the number of stupid people in this country;.

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. That might help with the defecit

And we can stop pretending that these churches aren't just GOP propaganda pulpits.

[bloomington-lib]

5. They'll probably get away with it.

I would think though, someday in the future this will backfire on them with reduced attendance in church. Who would want to listen to the church tell us how to vote? Not everybody sitting there is going to vote for the same guy and some won't listen to their guy being trashed.

[LeighAnn]

15. Time to start going to church

and carrying a tape recorder

[safeinOhio]

6. Their Jesus must be

OF THIS WORLD.

[intheflow]

8. They're emboldened by the Palin pick.

They see one of their own in a position to enact their Theocracy. Dobson said he wouldn't vote for McCain, but now that McCain's accepted Dobson's vetting of Palin, they're all buddy-buddy. This is some serious scary religious war shit--we have our own extremist fundamentalists who want the end times to occur between them and Islamic fundamentalists.
:scared:

This is the ugly side of civil disobedience. :(

[whistle]

9. Of course Dobson would do this, he is a fascistic Dominionist

...and his church is a front organization for a multi-million dollar corporation which makes huge tax free profits annually. His Focus on the Family is a tax-free cash cow where Dobson gets to peddle his brand of faith-based psychology to hook people into feeding and financing his true goal, to establish a Christian theocracy dominated American political structure.

<snip>
James Dobson's War on America
Christian Century, Sept 24, 1997 by Timothy Frederick Simpson

GIL ALEXANDER-MOEGERLE was a co-founder and for ten years was senior vice-president of Focus on the Family. For eight years he served as co-host with, James Dobson of a daily radio broadcast. Now he is Dobson's bitter opponent. This very strident book provides an account of his change of mind.

According, to Alexander-Moegerle, Dobson tampered with the marital therapy that he and his first wife were undergoing and forced him out of his job when he announced his intention to remarry more than a year after his divorce. Following Alexander-Moegerle's, termination, Dobson pressured other potential employers not to hire him.

His reason for writing this book, Alexander-Moegerle tells us, is that Dobson thwarted all attempts to have this matter aired. Alexander-Moegerle this using a Christian arbitration service (one Dobson himself had recommended in his radio broadcast) so as to keep matters of civil law among Christians out of the courts, but Dobson refused. When that failed, Alexander-Moegerle and his new wife sued Dobson, but they lost in this venue as well. Dobson's claim that as the leather of a religious organization he was immune from civil litigation regarding employment practices was upheld by a judge, thereby prohibiting Alexander-Moegerle from mentioning in court either his invasion-of-privacy complaint or anything relating to his termination from Focus. Both parties agreed to stop the proceeding midtrial and settle out of court on the charges that Dobson hindered Alexander-Moegerle from employment.

Dobson, contends Alexander-Moegerle, is somewhat of a chameleon. At some moments, such as during his radio broadcasts or in his infamous interview with serial killer Ted Bundy on the eve of his death in Florida's electric chair, Dobson is a psychologist with a Ph.D., dispensing advice on how to manage life in the modern world. At other times, such as when he is in a courtroom, Dobson is a religious leader defending the American family and Christendom from the onslaughts of secular humanism. In the corridors of Washington, Dobson is a politico who can set 100,000 fax machines in motion at the mere mention of an issue or personality.
<MORE>

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_n26_v114/ai_19905226

[Javaman]

10. they got capone this way, they will also get dobson. nt

[AndyTiedye]

12. They Have the Right of Free Speech Under the First Amendment, BUT

The IRS has the duty to revoke their tax exemption if they engage in political activity
under the establishment clause, which is also part of the same amendment.

[JimDandy]

13. Film a Fundie Church Day must be Sept 28th also then?

Spread the word--adopt a fundie church in your neighborhood for that one day. If they start endorsing, pull out your cell phone cameras and film away.

Ooops, I meant to post to OP

[RainDog]

21. hey! I didn't see your post. I TOTALLY agree with you. We have to fight back.

they are so obnoxious and think they can do whatever the hell they please...

we tape them and turn them in to the IRS - after we send the tape to the local tv station with a note on what we're doing. And then picket the churches who did this.

I'll do it.

[JimDandy]

23. I'm for everything but the picket part.

And remember to check the laws in your state that have to do with audio recordings. Generally one can record in public spaces, because there is no expectation of privacy, but what about in a church, which is a private institutions that opens it's doors to the public. :shrug:

[kayell]

24. Exactly. Sounds like a great day to attend church with your camera phone.

So many fundie church services, so little time. Looks like I'll have to plan my day carefully.

[alfredo]

14. It probably wouldn't make it into court for years, and by then Obama

will have chosen at least one justice.

[Kixel]

16. Now here's a solution

Taxing these churches should clear up the national debt in no time! I say on the first offense, we tax them for the next year. Second offense, they lose their exemption.

[LeftyMom]

18. We should tax them all either way.

Unless they want to pave the road to their house of worship themselves, set up their own water purification and sewer plants, etc, then they're benefiting from public facilities and should do their part to pay for them.

[JimDandy]

19. A seriously good idea. And NO exceptions - for fundie OR liberal churches. n/t

[RainDog]

20. Why don't we find out who is participating in this

and go there with videocameras and tape these moments? And stand up in the service and ask why a church is acting like a branch of a political party since they are obviously violating their tax exempt status?

We HAVE TO start fighting back with the religious right. We HAVE TO let them know that if they do this shit, they will have opposition.

We can picket churches who do this with signs that ask why the church is tax exempt when they openly violate the rules. just saying...

[Solly Mack]

22. and they'll all get letters and a closed case too

The only rule of law in America is certain people can get away with anything ...the rest pay through the noise.

[davsand]

25. The laws are pretty specific in IRS code and also in State Codes as well.

The IRS 501(c)3 laws are pretty specific about not being able to conduct political activities and maintain that exemption, but a lot of states also have some pretty specific laws on the subject. Imagine how much it would hurt to have to pay things like Property taxes if you got busted using your pulpit for political purposes.

Just saying...



Laura

[JerseygirlCT]

26. They'll continue to ignore the blatant offenses of right-wing

churches, while attacking churches like All Saints in Pasadena - where they dared to actually speak out against the war. Didn't endorse a candidate. But they got themselves in trouble for that - while churches like in the OP get away with blatantly flaunting the law.

I'm not optimistic about that changing.

[undergroundpanther]

27. Assemblies of God

Are like that,they think they are above"man's" laws.
The church is treasonous and dangerous it has "cells" under the public radar all over this country.Their churches are like compounds.It is a NETWORK of people that are cultists who aim to try to control this country they do stealth,they make alliances with other churches who they don't like religiously to get access to power,it has infiltrated the military the government,corporations,schools institutions and families..I said the word cells because that's what AoG calls them,"cell churches".
I used to be in AoG and they hurt me bad psychologically.They are toxic,dangerous,psychopathic zealot dominionists.

Dominion-ism is treason.Here is what it is about.
My ex wrote this I thought he explained this well.
http://pwccaman.tripod.com/articles/RelDomPrinterFriendly.html

This next site is from a fundie, BUT she is more "reasonable" about it than the likes of AoG is. She researches charismatric churches she thinks are false, she is offended over the wrong reasons,I contributed to her research on AoG in this article linked to below.
She has mapped out the connections between churches and people well worth reading her site.
http://www.seekgod.ca/toast2.htm

[fascisthunter]

28. These American Taliban Types Need to Be Taken Seriously

just think of Nazi Germany, or Japan WWII... they are a cult intent on taking over this country. They admit as much... take them very seriously and deal with them.

[Endangered Specie]

30. Fine, then EVERY Black Church in this country...

should orgainze en-masse get out the vote efforts, register the congregation after Sunday service, then use church vans and cars to drive every member of the congregation to a polling place on Nov 4th.

Two can play this game.

[LeftyMom]

31. That's totally legal.

Churches can encourage people to vote, they just can't tell them who to vote for without risking their tax exemption.

[Endangered Specie]

33. Okay, tell them who to vote for too.

[tomg]

32. This is a brilliant and dangerous strategy

on the part of Dobson et al. and it is very dangerous. It actually shows the stakes they are playing for. You do it right before the election, cloud the issue ( for example, confuse it with what some R.C bishops did - wrongly in my opinion, but technically legally - regarding Kerry and communion), and use it to paint the Democrats as anti-religion and, equally important, anti-freedom of speech ( glossing over the fact that it is a taxation issue). These fuckers are playing some serious hard ball here.

This is what they want: turn the fundies into "martyrs" ( look at how often we hear about a war on Christians - yeah, right - just like attempts to have an equitable tax code is "class warfare" - well it is, with the corporate rich waging war on the rest of us, but I digress). They are banking on the ensuing controversy - which won't be resolved for years, which will force the dems off message - to pull back some people of faith. McCain and Palin won't have to address it.

This is where you need the mainstream Protestant, the Roman Catholic and Jewish congregations and denomination ( none of whom want their tax exempt status endangered and, honestly, are generally pretty good about respecting church-state boundaries) to really step up to the plate. Watch the fundies try to play it as a civil disobedience issue ( breaking the law for a moral position) and call on the names of King, the Berrigans, and others from the Civil rights and Peace and Justic Movement ( we all know it is a naked grab for power).

If I were the Obama/ Biden campaign, I would issue a short, terse statement regretting that these asshats have broken the sacred covenant between church and state yaddah yaddah, and let it go for now. The votes are lost, and if you are going to vote as your religious leaders tell you, you are voting for McCain and Palin already. In fact, it could backfire big time. Frankly, in the long run this strategy by Dobson only works if Obama and Biden take the bait. If McCain is in, he will appoint supremes who will give the fundies a pass when it comes to the court. When Obama and Biden win the election, the next day, the IRS nails the pastors that did it.

[WhiteTara]

34. The IRS has a "Report Suspected Fraud"

page and it should be filled out by as many people as possible. This is a gross violation of the law and they should not be allowed a tax exempt status to campaign.
Here it is
http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/index.html


http://www.irs.gov/charities/churches/index.html
Here's the IRS code
Jeopardizing Tax-Exempt Status
All IRC section 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches and religious organizations, must abide by certain rules:
■
their net earnings may not inure to any private shareholder or individual,
■
they must not provide a substantial benefit to private interests,
■
they must not devote a substantial part of their activities to attempting to influence legislation,
■
they must not participate in, or intervene in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office, and
■
the organization’s purposes and activities may not be illegal or violate fundamental public policy.
Inurement and Private Benefit
Inurement to Insiders
Churches and religious organizations, like all exempt organizations under IRC section 501(c)(3), are prohibited from engaging in activities that result in inurement of the church’s or organization’s income or assets to insiders (i.e., persons having a personal and private interest in the activities of the organization). Insiders could include the minister, church board members, officers, and in certain circumstances, employees. Examples of prohibited inurement include the payment of dividends, the payment of unreasonable compensation to insiders, and transferring property to insiders for less than fair market value. The prohibition against inurement to insiders is absolute; therefore, any amount of inurement is, potentially, grounds for loss of tax-exempt status. In addition, the insider involved may be subject to excise tax. See the following section on Excess benefit transactions. Note that prohibited inurement does not include reasonable payments for services rendered, payments that further tax-exempt purposes, or payments made for the fair market value of real or personal property.
Excess benefit transactions. In cases where an IRC section 501(c)(3) organization provides an excess economic benefit to an insider, both the organization and the insider have engaged in an excess benefit transaction. The IRS may impose an excise tax on any insider who improperly benefits from an excess benefit transaction, as well as on organization managers who participate in such a transaction knowing that it is improper. An insider who benefits from an excess benefit transaction is also required to return the excess benefits to the organization. Detailed rules on excess benefit transactions are contained in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 26, sections 53.4958-0 through 53.4958-8.
Private Benefit
An IRC section 501(c)(3) organization’s activities must be directed exclusively toward charitable, educational, religious, or other exempt purposes. Such an organization’s activities may not serve the private interests of any individual or organization. Rather, beneficiaries of an organization’s activities must be recognized objects of charity (such as the poor or the distressed) or the community at large (for example, through the conduct of religious services or the promotion of religion). Private benefit is different from inurement to insiders. Private benefit may occur even if the persons benefited are not insiders. Also, private benefit must be substantial in order to jeopardize tax-exempt status.
Substantial Lobbying Activity
In general, no organization, including a church, may qualify for IRC section 501(c)(3) status if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation (commonly known as lobbying). An IRC section 501(c)(3) organization may engage in some lobbying, but too much lobbying activity risks loss of tax-exempt status.
5

[w4rma]

35. very good. (nt)

[liberal1973]

36. James Dobson just hates America

Thank goodness for Thomas Paine.