Atheists Say IRS Not Doing Enough to Hold Churches Accountable

WASHINGTON, DC—The Secular Coalition for America today sent a letter to the White House, pointing out additional Internal Revenue Service failings, including neglecting to investigate churches and religious charities that engage in “politicking from the pulpit.”

In its letter, the Secular Coalition said “religious charities have been flaunting their flagrant disregard for [IRS] laws for years. Over 1600 pastors participated in last year’s Pulpit Freedom Sunday, where pastors not only violated the law by lobbying and endorsing candidates, but filmed their illegal actions and mailed them to the IRS.”

The Secular Coalition’s letter comes on the heel of another letter sent to the White House by Franklin Graham earlier this week, asserting that the IRS is improperly targeting religious charities for investigation, including the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Graham’s complaint is one in a series of allegations this week that the IRS is unfairly targeting churches for scrutiny.

“Churches and religious organizations are being singled out—for special treatment,” said Edwina Rogers, executive director for the Secular Coalition for America. “Churches and other religious organizations have been using their tax exempt statuses for years to politick from the pulpit are rarely even investigated for their flagrant disregard of IRS law.”

In fact, churches are heavily insulated against general procedures and investigations that other secular non-profits are subject to. The Church Audit Procedures Act, §7611 of the Internal Revenue Code, stipulates that only “an appropriate high-level Treasury official” can initiate an investigation, if there is suspicion that the church is incompliant with 501(c)(3) requirements. The Act defines “appropriate high-level Treasury official” as “the Secretary of the Treasury or any delegate of the Secretary of the Treasury whose rank is no lower than that of a principal Internal Revenue officer for an internal revenue region.”

In October 2012, despite an influx of complaints to the IRS regarding churches that had become too political, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officially halted tax audits of churches until it can adopt rules that clarify which high-level employee has the authority to initiate them, resulting in outright non-enforcement of electioneering restrictions.

Under current 501(c)(3) law, churches are barred from electioneering and limited in other political activity. Specifically, the anti-electioneering provision prohibits any section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization from endorsing or opposing any candidate for public office. Churches are allowed to engage only in “insubstantial” lobbying, spending no more than 20 percent of the church’s budget on lobbying—a restriction nearly impossible to uphold since churches are not required to submit 990 forms indicating their income or expenditures.

“Not only are churches shielded from basic investigations in a way that no other non-profits are, but the laws that are in place for them are nearly impossible to uphold,” Rogers said. “Because churches do not have to submit a 990 form how then can the IRS hold them accountable for breaking other IRS laws that limit the amount the amount of political lobbying they do?” 

Secular 501(c)(3) organizations that surpass the 20 percent cap on lobbying or electioneer in any way are in jeopardy of losing their tax exempt, and investigations and can be initiated by low-level IRS officials.

To address concerns of religious privileging in the tax code, , the Secular Coalition has urged Congress to require religious nonprofits to submit 990 forms like other nonprofit organizations, and to enforce the largely ignored current IRS rules that bar churches from endorsing political candidates.

Earlier this month, the Joint Committee on Taxation for included the Coalition’s recommendations on removing religious privileging from the tax code, in a report submitted May 7, 2013 to the House Ways and Means Committee. The Secular Coalition is now urging the House Ways and Means committee to adopt the SCA’s recommendations in the final bill the Committee puts forth to the full House.

The Secular Coalition for America represents atheists, agnostics, humanists and others who don’t possess and absolutely belief in God on Capitol Hill. The Secular Coalition lobbies to protect and strengthen the secular character of the government as the best guarantee of freedom for all. The Coalition is comprised of 11 member organizations and 118 endorsing organizations. The Secular Coalition has chapters in all 50 states that lobby lawmakers at the state level.

To life, not martyrdom

Recently, I read two articles about dying for a cause. The first, on these pages, by Sally Quinn, addressed the Dalai Lama’s lack of compassion for not criticizing the self-immolation of more than 100 Tibetans since 2009 to protest China’s occupation of Tibet.  The second article concerned 813 Italians who were just declared “saints” by the Catholic Church because they chose death in 1480 rather than convert to Islam. 

Different religions have formulated arguments about what constitutes a “just war” and causes worth dying for. Some of history’s most brutal wars have been holy wars, perpetrated by people who expected heavenly rewards for killing countless “heretics.” They justified their massacres because designated infidels either did not believe in “the one true god” or did not worship the one true god in the one true way. Most of the civilized world now condemns those who take innocent lives, regardless of the cause. More nuanced is whether we can justify taking our own life for a cause, the theme in both articles mentioned above.

I can respect, if not agree with, those who believe their suicide will save additional lives and increase the happiness of others. That was the goal of the self-immolators trying to free Tibet and bring back the Dalai Lama. On the other hand, I always look for ways to resolve problems without loss of life. This is why war must always be a last resort.

I reserve my harshest criticisms of religion for its practices that intrude on the lives of those outside the religion. This doesn’t mean I can easily ignore religious practices I find ridiculous, which brings me to Catholic sainthood. How many miracles does it take to change a dead human into a saint? The Catholic Church says two, but no such miracle has ever been as documented as, say, would be a televised prayer that results in a light bulb changing itself.

Continue reading at Washington Post's On Faith.

Atheists Grade Massachusetts Senate Candidates

Washington, DC-- The Secular Coalition for America today released its 2013 Massachusetts Senate Candidate Scorecard for the upcoming special election —a guide for secular-minded Massachusettsians on the senate candidates.

The scorecard grades the Republican and Democratic candidates vying for the senate seat in the upcoming election to be held on June 25:

• Republican, Gabriel E. Gomez received an "A"
• Democrat, Edward J. Markey received an "A"

“We are pleased that the choice for Massachusetts’ next senator is between two candidates who appear to have a strong respect for the separation of church and state,” said Edwina Rogers, executive director of the Secular Coalition for America. “The Secular Coalition looks forward to working with the victor to ensure that future legislation is based on reason, science and logic.”

The candidates were scored on their public answers to four topics relating to separation of church and state issues:  

1. What role would religion play in the candidate's decision making in his or her role as a U.S. Representative?  Does the candidate support a mutual separation between religion and government?
2. Does the candidate support a science based curriculum in public schools and reject the use of public funding of religious schools or religiously-based curriculums?
3. Does the candidate support social policies that do not discriminate based on religion, such as marriage equality?
4. Does the candidate support scientifically based regulations including science surrounding reproduction?

"We are in a good position in this race, with candidates who understand the need to separate matters of personal belief from the duties of office," said Zachary Bos, co-chair of the Secular Coalition for Massachusetts. "As the election proceeds, the Secular Coalition for Massachusetts will continue to invite the candidates to speak directly to the question of how they would work toward the inclusion of all voters -- including nontheists -- in the legislative process."

The Secular Coalition recently established a state chapter Massachusetts that has already begun work, lobbying state lawmakers on separation of religion and government issues. The Secular Coalition for Massachusetts is chaired by Zachary Bos, 30, Lunenburg, MA and Ellery Schempp, 72, Medford, Massachusetts.

The Secular Coalition represents nontheists -- atheists, agnostics, humanists and others who do not have an absolute belief in a god -- and lobbies to protect and strengthen the secular character of the government as the best guarantee of freedom for all Americans -- both religious and nonreligious.

For more information on the Secular Coalition for Massachusetts and for chapter co-chair contact information, visit http://secular.org/states/chapters/massachusetts

CONTACT: Lauren Anderson Youngblood, SCA Communications Manager at lauren@secular.org or (202)299-1091 ext. 205, cell (202)630-9725
Secular Coalition for Massachusetts Co-Chair, Zachary Bos at zakbos@gmail.com or 617-871-0759