12-02-05, 8:57 am
The Bush administration is using the IRS in an apparent attempt to punish its critics and reward its friends. President Bush has proven himself a friend of some religious organizations, generously doling out billions of US taxpayer dollars to them each year in violation of the Constitutional injunction against doing so. Bush, after threatening and cajoling, is now poised to punish those religious groups that have criticized his policies.
According to the Washington Post, the Internal Revenue Service is reviewing the tax-exempt status of All Saints Church (Episcopal) in Pasadena, California because its former pastor delivered an antiwar sermon that directly criticized Bush before the 2004 election.
The sermon in question argued that war was contrary to the teachings of Jesus, but was prefaced by the pastor's refusal to tell his congregation how to vote, falling within the legal parameters of federal regulations that prevent non-profits from endorsing political candidates.
In response to the administration's McCarthyite tactic, Reverend Edwin Bacon, rector at All Saints, wondered, 'I'm very interested to know whether the IRS is taking a look only at churches that are critical of the war in Iraq, or also at the churches that are supportive of the war and the president.'
The church is also rejecting the suggestion that it should back away from its long-held positions that might not agree with the Bush administration's policies. On its website on November 6, All Saints Church remarked: 'We at All Saints, of course, will continue from a nonpartisan perspective to teach and proclaim with vigor the core values of Christianity as we stand in the prophetic tradition of Jesus the peacemaker.'
Of 60 complaints aimed at churches for improper election endorsements, only the All Saints case has drawn a full-scale audit, threatening severe penalties.
An apparent inequity between the IRS's targeting of All Saints and evidence that the IRS has refused to focus on religious organizations that have explicitly endorsed Bush and his policies, has not gone unnoticed
For example, no media reports have indicated whether or not the IRS plans to audit the Catholic Church, notes a recent New York Times editorial condemning IRS discrimination, after several bishops equated voting for John Kerry with a mortal sin, amounting to a religious directive to vote for Bush.
Further, according to a press statement by the non-partisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a political watchdog group based in Washington, DC, the right-wing radio personality and founder of the religious-based and tax-exempt Focus on the Family, James Dobson, has publicly and explicitly endorsed several Republican candidates.
In an announcement of its intention to file a complaint with the IRS calling for an examination of Dobson's activities, CREW noted that the right-wing religious leader endorsed Republican Senate candidate Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, Republican Patrick Ballantine for North Carolina governor, and Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn.
'Mr. Dobson's egregious violations of the IRS code demand an investigation into his improper activities that break both the spirit and the letter of IRS law,' said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW.
Sloan also noted an imbalance in the IRS’s activities, stating that 'The IRS has established a track record of scrutinizing organizations, in particular liberal ones, that have purportedly violated electioneering regulations. We hope that the IRS will fully investigate Focus on the Family activities as vigorously as it has targeted those of progressive organizations.'
Abusing executive power in order to exert political control over some religious institutions amounts to a breach of the Constitutional injunction against the state's curtailment of religious freedom.
Further, providing protection for friendly religious non-profits that openly reject the Constitutional mandate of the separation of church and state, and openly flout laws designed to ensure that separation by disallowing endorsement of candidates, amounts to a state endorsement of particular religious viewpoints.
The administration's actions in this matter severely threaten religious freedom, as well as freedom from imposed religion, in this country.
In an ironic twist, much of this scandal became public at the same time Bush, during a trip to Asia, called for greater religious freedom in China.
--Joel Wendland can be reached at pa-letters@poliicalaffairs.net.
