Thread: Churches and non profit status.

When a religious organization takes a political stand and gets involved with State and Federal issues, aren't they supposed to lose their tax free- non profit status ?

A growing number of churches in Arizona and around the nation are challenging the new Arizona law and calling for intervention by their members.

I have nothing against religion but can't we do something about this abuse of authority ? Who do we contact ?

Apparently there is no separation of Church and State...it all comes down to the money

Kathyet

Originally Posted by stymie222

When a religious organization takes a political stand and gets involved with State and Federal issues, aren't they supposed to lose their tax free- non profit status ?

A growing number of churches in Arizona and around the nation are challenging the new Arizona law and calling for intervention by their members.

I have nothing against religion but can't we do something about this abuse of authority ? Who do we contact ?

Just another law on the books that is totally ignored.

stymie222 wrote:
"I have nothing against religion but can't we do something about this abuse of authority ? Who do we contact ?"

I strongly agree with all you wrote. After I learned that (Roman) Catholic Charities receives a large portion of its funds to "provide services to and resettle immigrants" (no specification of their legality included); and that the primary "movers and shakers" behind having citizens of the failed nation of Samolia declared "refugees" and bringing them and their huge "families" to the United States was the Evangelical Lutheran Church (and their U.S. tax-exempt charity) -- under a program which became so corrupted that it had to be temporarily discontinued so that DNA testing could be instituted (at U.S. taxpayer expense) to establish the validity of all the "relatives" Samolians "refugees" applied to bring to the United States under our current "family reunification" immigration law provisions -- I tried contacting Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU) about these issues. However, I quickly found out that AU is (or has become) a liberal organization which works closely with the ACLU primarily to work against actions by what AU terms the "Religious Right", which seems to be confined almost entirely in their thinking to evangelical Protestant Christian denominations within the United States.

The fact that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared openly on the floor of the U.S. Senate that he had prayed the night before with (Roman) Catholic Bishop Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles that the proposed 2006 legislation to grant amnesty to illegal aliens in the United States would pass did not seem to register on AU's radar, nor does the fact that U.S. taxpayers increasingly are being forced to fund special Muslim-approved footbaths and "prayer" time and areas for student followers of Islam in public schools, colleges, and universities throughout the U.S.

There is a public survey being taken by the United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) through today. It is very complete, and provides plenty of room for comments. You (as did I) might begin by taking the survey and expressing your belief that U.S. programs of "Refugees and Political Asylum" ought to be administered by civil authorities accountable to the public rather than by tax-exempt religious organizations. This, together with "Refugee Resettlement", are topics spefically addresssed. It also addresses "Temporary Permanent Status", a category under which people are brought in "temporarily" as refugees but in fact their status usually is extended until they become de facto permanent residents of the U.S.. This is how the violent M-13 gang, which originated in Central America, became established in the United States after large numbers of citizens of El Salvador and Honduras were granted "TPS" after regionally hurricanes there. However, unfortunately, as Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies wrote, "Temporary Permanent Status is Forever!" when it comes to current U.S. immigration policy!

USCIS POLICY REVIEW SURVEY, open through April 29
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-196450-.html

Texas2step

If I hear about Tax Exempt Religious organizations that are involved in political agendas such as organizing their members to defeat the Arizona Bill, Who can I contact ?

Originally Posted by stymie222

If I hear about Tax Exempt Religious organizations that are involved in political agendas such as organizing their members to defeat the Arizona Bill, Who can I contact ?

The IRS. Question is.....will they bother to enforce the law?

Related
When Indignation Trumps Information GEORGE WILL
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-197385.html

And you also can try reporting incidences which you think qualify to:

Americans United for the Separation of Church of State
518 C Street, N.E.,
Washington, D.C. 20002
Phone: (202) 466-3234
E-Mail: americansunited@au.org
Web site Address: www.au.org

Perhaps if enough people contact them with complaints which broaden the discussion to include the acitivities of the religious "left" in the United States (and Mexico) in their very active campaigns to encourage both U.S. citizens and illegal aliens to either circumvent and/or openly break the inmmigration laws of our country, perhaps AU will begin to take notice and shift its focus on this issue.

Thank You...great thought. I am sick of the churches pandering to illegals. It is just another scam to build business on the backs of the illegals.

We should all be contacting the IRS and forwarding them complaints about political actions of religious organizations.

We should also be contacing the ACLU. They have a long history of fighting to uphold the separation of church and state. If would be great if say Alipac and Numbers and FAIR and CAPS, joined forces and asked the ACLU for help.

If other organizations who have been on the receiving end of political interference by reglious groups were contacted, they might join in too. I am thinking about the group that is fighting the anti gay marriage proposition in San Franc. They have evidence of the Mormon Church's extensive political involvement in that battle.

As the president of a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, I can answer your concerns. There are three main areas, political activity, lobbying and advocacy.

Non-profits may not campaign for or against candidates; doing so constitutes political activity. Speaking out against an elected official can be a grey area if the official is engaged in a reelection campaign.

501(c)3s may, however, lobby for or against legislation or initiatives, either in general or specifically, so long as these activities do not amount to a "substantial part of their activities.". There are very specific guidelines that define "substantial." The activities and huge expenditures of money on behalf of California's Proposition 8 by the Catholic and Mormon churches constituted lobbying. So do all of the activities you have cited in opposition to SB-1070.

Advocacy, i.e., speaking out on behalf of their mission and their goals and beliefs, is not restricted.

My group does not take part in any political activities and very little lobbying (although we have spoken out strongly against SB-1070), but we do a great deal of advocacy.