An atheist group reached a settlement last month with the Internal Revenue Service over stronger enforcement of policies against "church politicking," and at least one religious freedom group voiced optimism, claiming the IRS investigation could be "a good thing" in the long run.
Alliance Defending Freedom has been campaigning to overturn the portion of the tax code that prohibits nonprofit organizations from "intervening in political campaigns as a condition of their tax-exempt status." To achieve that, it has organized the annual Pulpit Freedom Sunday since 2008, for which it encourages pastors to exercise their First Amendment right to free speech -- including political speech -- from the pulpit and send copies of their sermons to the IRS. Once the IRS attempts to take away a church's tax-exempt status, ADF will represent the church free of charge and seek to declare the law unconstitutional, Eric Stanley, senior counsel with ADF, said.
Read Full Article »