Backlash Against Religious Tax Exemption Laws
Tuesday August 28, 2007
It is a fact of law that charitable organizations, including churches, which have tax-exempt status are not allowed to participate in political campaigns on behalf of political candidates. A focus of current efforts is to make a direct change in how the laws read in order to ensure that churches can become fully active in political campaigns.
Read Article: Backlash Against Religious Tax Exemption Laws
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>This change would only apply to churches and other religious organizations.
I’m involved with a local atheist group that is currently involved in a debate about whether or not to apply for religious status due to some financial goals. Currenlty we have the 501(c)3 status–and we are bound by the political rules as well. But the above makes me think we should go for religious status–despite the negative connotations. If they’re going to speak out–I want to speak out as well.
Meanwhile, I don’t kid myself that our local atheist group could compete with regard to political campaign funding. If churches are allowed to finance political campaigns–I don’t think it’s alarmist to say we’d quickly find ourselves in a theocracy.
The sheer amount of money churches could throw at politicians would absolutely be on par with any large corporation lobby. Our Representatives would be breaking their necks as they tumbled down The Hill to collect the contributions–which would no doubt come with obligations.