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According to the Internal Revenue Service, the only church ever to be stripped of its tax-exempt status for partisan politicking was a church near Binghamton that ran full-page ads against President Clinton during the 1992 election season.
Now, however, a liberal church in southern California has been threatened with the loss of its tax-exempt status over an anti-war sermon delivered just days before the 2004 presidential election, and the church plans to fight the IRS on the matter.
Officials of the All Saints Church, an Episcopal congregation, in Pasadena, Calif., say they won't turn over documents to the IRS, which must now decide whether to ask for a hearing before a judge, who would then decide on the validity of the agency's demands.
The potential confrontation has religious leaders on the right and left fearful that the dispute could make it more difficult for them to speak out on moral issues as we head toward the mid-term elections.
The law appears clear: Church officials can discuss politics, but to retain tax-exempt status, they cannot endorse candidates or parties.
However, this issue of lifting a tax exemption for a church gets stickier in this day and age when Christian conservatives have embraced the Republican Party and hold a tremendous amount of influence therein.
At the same time, you also have some Catholic bishops and priests making strong statements against candidates who believe in a woman's right to choose.
In the case of the Episcopal sermon in California, the guest pastor did not endorse a candidate outright, but said Jesus, if he were debating Sen. John Kerry and President Bush, would condemn the Iraq war and Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive war.
We believe there have been a lot of similar sermons preached, both pro and con, since 2004. We have seen folks walk out of church in protest of anti-war statements.
But to take away a tax-exemption if a candidate was not specifically endorsed in a slippery slope that the IRS should avoid. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/15581338.htm PASADENA Episcopal church votes to refuse IRS request An Episcopal church's decision Thursday not to cooperate with an IRS investigation into an anti-war sermon delivered before the 2004 presidential election sets up a high-profile confrontation between the liberal congregation and the IRS, which usually keeps such inquiries private. The leaders of the 3,500-member All Saints Church voted unanimously to resist an order to turn over documents related to the sermon, which was given just two days before the election. The decision means the IRS must decide whether to ask the Justice Department to pursue the case in court. A judge would then rule on the validity of the agency's demands. Under federal tax law, church officials can legally discuss politics, but to retain tax-exempt status they cannot endorse candidates or parties. Most who do so receive a warning. The IRS, however, has promised tougher enforcement of the law during this year's midterm elections and in the 2008 election cycle. The dispute, which could cost the church its tax-exempt status, has attracted the attention of religious leaders on the right and left, who say the IRS's actions could make it more difficult for them to speak out on moral issues such as gay marriage and abortion. The IRS completed investigations of 90 tax-exempt churches and charities in 2004 and found wrongdoing in 70 percent of the cases. Four -- none of them churches -- lost their tax-exempt status. | 
