United Church of Christ under IRS investigation - rightwing/Republican churches left alone

[Rabrrrrrr]

Last summer, Obama spoke to the national gathering (General Synod) of the UCC, because he's a UCC member and not because he was a presidential contender. Now, the IRS is "investigating".

Funny how the liberal churches get investigated for this something that is clearly not a campaigning issue, and the rightwing/Republican churches are left alone when their people come to churches purely to stump.

I'm curious how many churches McCain, Huckabee, and others have been to this campaign. How many churches did Shrubbie stump at in his campaign?

Fucking nonsense.

http://www.ucc.org/news/obama-speech-in-2007-prompts-1.html

Before Obama spoke to the national gathering of 10,000 UCC members, Associate General Minister Edith A. Guffey, who serves as administrator of the biennial General Synod, admonished the crowd that Obama's appearance was not to be a campaign-related event and that electioneering would not be tolerated. No political leaflets, signs or placards were allowed, and activity by the Obama campaign was barred from inside the Hartford Civic Center venue.

In an introduction before Obama's speech, Thomas said Obama was invited as "one of ours" to provide reflections on "how personal faith can be lived out in the public square, how personal faith and piety is reflected in the life of public service."

Thomas said the IRS's investigation implies that Obama, a UCC member, is not free to speak openly to fellow UCC members about his faith.

Copy of the IRS letter here:

http://www.ucc.org/news/pdf/lettrirs.pdf

[theredpen]

1. This has been going on for years under Bush

The UCC is just the latest victim. We had an Obama representative at our post-mass coffee social last Sunday and Father Stephen was very careful not to use the candidate's name in the service itself. (I was disappointed, because the guy was from Obama's GLBT outreach team and didn't really want to discuss Obama's stumbles on GLBT issues — I guess I shouldn't have told him I'd already voted for Obama.)

Every time religion comes up in a general forum here, particularly when its a right-wing church, there are calls for increased stringency on church/state separation. I'm all for that in principle, but the reality is that this noose has tightened only around the necks of progressive churches. It's all part of Bush turning the federal government into Karl Rove's personal plaything. :grr:

[kwassa]

2. well, they are going after a Huckabee supporter, too.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-drake14feb14,1,1061290.story

At issue is whether Buena Park clergyman Wiley Drake violated the separation of church and state.
By Dave McKibben, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

February 14, 2008

An attorney for clergyman Wiley S. Drake confirmed Wednesday that the Internal Revenue Service was investigating the pastor's endorsement of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential bid, written on church letterhead and announced during a church-affiliated Internet radio show.

"Pastors and churches have 1st Amendment rights just like everybody else," said Erik Stanley, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund. "Wiley Drake has the same right to make a personal endorsement as anybody."

The inquiry into the Buena Park pastor's actions comes six months after Americans United for Separation of Church and State urged the IRS to investigate the nonprofit status of Drake's church because of the endorsement. Stanley said the IRS sent Drake a letter of inquiry Feb. 5.

As tax-exempt organizations, churches are barred from campaigning for candidates. IRS officials declined to comment on the matter, citing privacy regulations.

[RevCheesehead]

3. Using church letterhead is NOT a personal statement.

And using church resources also is NOT a personal message.
This guy directly violated the tax-exempt code.

[kwassa]

5. I agree with you completely.

He is using his church to promote Huckabee.

[RevCheesehead]

6. It makes me angry, because I bend over backwards to keep the rules.

I can't put a campaign sign in my yard, because I live in a church-owned parsonage. But I can put a bumpersticker on my car. And I worry when I park in the spot that says "Pastor" because some a-hole could make an issue of it. Fortunately, most people in my church are liberal dems (!), and this has not been a problem.

Yet it seems that the big cases we hear about are mostly about those who support liberal candidates. While I'm glad to hear they're looking into the Huckabee situation, I'm willing to bet we'll never hear about any cases involving McCain.

[kwassa]

8. well, my sign got stolen out of my yard.

we had a Hillary sign, and now it is gone.

This is an odd election though, because there are usually many candidate signs up, and we were the only ones in the entire neighborhood with any sign up at all. This is also a liberal Democratic area.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. Bizarre - I never noticed until you mentioned it, but I've seen NO campaign signs.

Of course, we're also covered in snow which could be why - but I'm not even seeing bumper stickers or anything. And in past years, even with snow, I'm pretty sure people still got signs and other stuff up.

Interesting.

[Critters2]

4. I honestly fear that 501(c)(3) was violated in Hartford,

and thought so at the time. It's not Obama speaking to GS that was the problem, though I think uninviting him once he announced would have been the prudent thing. The problem was the campaign workers outside the convention center taking donations and contact info. At best, this was a bad idea. At worst, it was a violation of 501(C)(3). They simply shouldn't have been there.

And we can bitch and moan about what the fundies do, but we need to stay above reproach ourselves. This is more than theoretical for some of us. Most, maybe all, local churches have their federal status through the National Church. If Cleveland loses its status for this little stunt, so will my church. So, I suspect, will yours. That is trouble I don't even want to think about!

And then there's the fact that my biggest anti-National church asshole is just loving this, and making noise about leaving the denomination again. Thank you, Cleveland, for giving him this ammo.

I'm kind of hoping the Collegium will admit they shouldn't have done this, and just pay a fine.

Yes, fundies should be held accountable, but we need to behave appropriately as well.

[kwassa]

9. they did a long story on NPR about it .....

and interviewed a guy from UCC who is also head (?) of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and he said that the campaign workers were on city property, and not in any way under the control of the UCC convention, so they are not on the hook for that.

here is the NPR story

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=75035288

here is the guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_W._Lynn

Reverend Barry W. Lynn (born 1948 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) has been the Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State since 1992.<1> He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and a prominent leader of the American religious left.

He is a strong advocate of separation of church and state and is considered a liberal Christian, both politically and theologically.

[Kat45]

7. I thought the same thing when I got that email from the UCC.

Don't the fundie preachers even hand out fliers telling their flock who to vote for? I'm so sick of this administration using the government to go after all the good folks while declaring that no law applies to them.

[Kajsa]

11. It is not an even playing field so to speak.

A large conservative church in my area is infamous
for directly involving politics both with political
endorsements and fundraisers for local city gov.
candidates.

No problem there with the IRS.

But this garners instant attention and action?

Somethings not right here.

But Critters is right, we need to be mindful
of keeping the separation of church/state
very visible.

[davidinalameda]

12. the IRS has dropped their investigation

[Kat45]

13. Glad to hear it.

Funny, I was just telling someone about this the other day. I hadn't known it was dropped.

[Critters2]

14. Not "dropped" technically. Completed it. And found no infractions.

They're still investigating Trinity, and I fear there's a greater chance of them being penalized...thanks to Michael Pfleger. I don't think any of Jeremiah Wright's sermons--when you hear the full sermons--violated the regs. But Pfleger, well, that could be a problem.