Tag: tax exempt

February 17, 2013
church being built

Last week the US House of Representatives quietly passed an amendment to the Hurricane Sandy relief act that redefined churches so they could be given federal tax dollars directly to rebuild. Not only were churches redefined but they were moved into the group that will automatically qualify for federal disaster aid. Both points are extremely outside how churches are treated with regard to federal tax dollars and is a gross violation of the separation of church and state.

Here is the summary of H.R. 592:

October 15, 2012
image showing Wall between Church and State

A Google alert caught my eye on Sunday. It was to a post on a website called LifeNews.com and it was titled “Liberals Are Trying to Intimidate Your Church This Election”. So of course I had to read about this very important issue. The post basically was the standard conservative scare post. Naturally none of their information was correct. What I did find interesting was links to two voter guides. I didn’t know that a church was so concerned with obviously non-religious issues like energy, Voter ID, and Iran.

April 18, 2006

I had an e-mail land in my box today that could be one of the smoking guns that proves Rev. Russell Johnson of the Fairfield Christian Church and Ohio Restoration Project is electioneering for Ken Blackwell, who is running for Governor and hopes to be the Republican nominee this fall. It seems Johnson sent a link to a Blackwell campaign video to members of his church and his staff. His note infers that a vote for Blackwell will help “ministers and Christians in America… repent of cowardice in the face of the enemy by allowing our nation to be taken hostage to secular myths”.

February 24, 2006

The IRS examined 110 organizations referred to the tax agency for potentially violations, and 28 cases remain open.

Among the 82 closed cases, the IRS found prohibited politicking and sent a written warning to 55 organizations and assessed a penalty tax against one group. Those organizations included 37 churches and 19 other organizations.

January 21, 2006
image of Rev. Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church in Ohio
Rev. Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church in Ohio

I guess the PR people at World Harvest Church were a bit upset at all the face time fellow electioneering minister Rev. Russell Johnson, senior pastor of the Fairfield Christian Church in Lancaster, was getting over the IRS complaint filed by clergy from 31 denominations this week. Rev. Rod Parsley, the founder and senior pastor of World Harvest, and television heart throb to shut-ins, came outside his lush estate in Canal Winchester, to speak to the unwashed of the media. A PR flack had previously made comments about the complaint.