{"id":16239,"date":"2016-10-01T10:25:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-01T10:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs-11060\/"},"modified":"2016-10-01T10:25:00","modified_gmt":"2016-10-01T10:25:00","slug":"new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/","title":{"rendered":"New bill would protect churches with political views from the IRS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2016 \/ 04:25 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Churches concerned about Internal Revenue Service intervention if they engage in political speech should take a look at a proposed federal bill that promises fewer restrictions, the bill\u2019s backers say.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo tax exemption can be based on a requirement that a church or any other non-profit organization give up a constitutionally protected freedom, including free speech,\u201d Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Erik Stanley said Sept. 29. \u201cWith regard to churches, they can decide for themselves what they should or shouldn\u2019t say from the pulpit. Americans don\u2019t need the IRS to be the referee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Jody Hice (R-Ga.) have introduced the Freedom of Speech Fairness Act, which claims to restore free speech and religious freedom to churches and other nonprofits. It would allow churches to make political statements in the ordinary course of the organization\u2019s regular and customary activities, and if any expenditures on such statements are minimal.<\/p>\n

The bill would ensure that a minister may make a comment about a political candidate or issue as part of a sermon. It would also allow a charity that sends out a monthly newsletter to occasionally include comments on political issues or candidates, according to Rep. Scalise\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The bill maintains some restrictions. It would not allow non-profits to create an entirely new mailing campaign dedicated solely to political information. It would not allow non-profit organizations or churches to engage in political activities outside the scope of their normal tax-exempt work. They also could not contribute to political activities or candidates.<\/p>\n

Stanley spoke in support of the bill, contrasting it with the 1954 Johnson Amendment. Lyndon Johnson, who would later go on to become president, backed legislation as a U.S. Senator to bar non-profits from participation in any political campaign on behalf of or against any candidate for public office. That rule is still in place.<\/p>\n

For Stanley, the Freedom of Speech Fairness Act is a needed corrective.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IRS has no business acting as the speech police of any non-profit organization, as its many scandals over recent years have made clear,\u201d he said. \u201cThis bill corrects an unconstitutional restriction put in place in 1954 that was never intended to affect churches and other non-profit groups but has been used to intimidate them ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy removing the threat of an IRS investigation and potential penalties based simply, for example, on what a pastor says from the pulpit, this bill brings the law into conformity with the First Amendment,\u201d Stanley said.<\/p>\n

Rep. Scalise\u2019s office said that present law creates a \u201cchilling effect\u201d on religious institutions\u2019 speech.<\/p>\n

In response to a 2012 lawsuit settlement with the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the IRS created a unit called the Political Activity Referral Committee. It identified 99 churches for \u201cpotential impermissible political campaign intervention activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State often send letters to pastors warning them about the tax regulations.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops\u2019 Office of General Counsel has offered guidelines to Catholic organizations on political activity and lobbying.<\/p>\n

The July 2016 edition of the guidelines runs to 44 pages. It offers careful rules concerning candidate forums, debates, photo-ops and facility rentals at churches and other Catholic organizations.<\/p>\n

The guidelines are relevant to non-profit Catholic media organizations, including CNA\u2019s parent organization the EWTN Global Catholic Network.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrudence dictates that Catholic periodicals reject columns that endorse, support or oppose candidates,\u201d the bishops\u2019 document states. It notes that Catholic news publications should avoid crossing the legal threshold of attempting \u201cto promote or oppose a candidate through editorial policy\u201d or through selective acceptance of political advertisements.<\/p>\n

Alliance Defending Freedom organizes protests of the tax regulations in its Pulpit Freedom Sunday events.<\/p>\n

The U.S. bishops\u2019 guidelines caution against Catholic churches\u2019 participation in the event, saying it could cause problems with the IRS non-profit requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the IRS determines that an organization has violated this absolute prohibition against political campaign intervention, the IRS may revoke the organization\u2019s tax-exempt status, including its ability to receive tax-deductible contributions,\u201d the guidelines say.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2016 \/ 04:25 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Churches concerned about Internal Revenue Service intervention if they engage in political speech should take a look at a proposed federal bill that promises fewer restrictions, the bill’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nNew bill would protect churches with political views from the IRS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2016 \/ 04:25 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Churches concerned about Internal Revenue Service intervention if they engage in political speech should take a look at a proposed federal bill that promises fewer restrictions, the bill’s...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New bill would protect churches with political views from the IRS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2016 \/ 04:25 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Churches concerned about Internal Revenue Service intervention if they engage in political speech should take a look at a proposed federal bill that promises fewer restrictions, the bill’s...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-01T10:25:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/American_flag_and_Church_Credit_Martin_via_Flickr_CC_BY_NC_ND_20_CNA_3_1_16.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/\",\"name\":\"New bill would protect churches with political views from the IRS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-01T10:25:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-01T10:25:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2016 \/ 04:25 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Churches concerned about Internal Revenue Service intervention if they engage in political speech should take a look at a proposed federal bill that promises fewer restrictions, the bill’s...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New bill would protect churches with political views from the IRS\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New bill would protect churches with political views from the IRS","description":"Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2016 \/ 04:25 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Churches concerned about Internal Revenue Service intervention if they engage in political speech should take a look at a proposed federal bill that promises fewer restrictions, the bill’s...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New bill would protect churches with political views from the IRS","og_description":"Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2016 \/ 04:25 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Churches concerned about Internal Revenue Service intervention if they engage in political speech should take a look at a proposed federal bill that promises fewer restrictions, the bill’s...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2016-10-01T10:25:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/American_flag_and_Church_Credit_Martin_via_Flickr_CC_BY_NC_ND_20_CNA_3_1_16.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/","name":"New bill would protect churches with political views from the IRS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-10-01T10:25:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-01T10:25:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2016 \/ 04:25 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Churches concerned about Internal Revenue Service intervention if they engage in political speech should take a look at a proposed federal bill that promises fewer restrictions, the bill’s...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/10\/new-bill-would-protect-churches-with-political-views-from-the-irs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New bill would protect churches with political views from the IRS"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}