Churches are breaking the law and endorsing in elections

[Nevilledog]

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Sewell Chan
@sewellchan
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NEW INVESTIGATION: Churches routinely break the law by endorsing candidates, an investigation by @JinATX @jessica_priest for @TexasTribune @propublica found. The IRS has largely abdicated enforcement of a 1954 law prohibiting such campaigning.
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texastribune.org
Churches are breaking the law and endorsing in elections, experts say…
For nearly 70 years, federal law has barred churches from directly involving themselves in political campaigns, but the IRS has largely abdicated its enforcement responsibilities as churches have bec…
6:25 AM · Oct 30, 2022

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/10/30/johnson-amendment-elections-irs/

Six days before a local runoff election last year in Frisco, a prosperous and growing suburb of Dallas, Brandon Burden paced the stage of KingdomLife Church. The pastor told congregants that demonic spirits were operating through members of the City Council.

Grasping his Bible with both hands, Burden said God was working through his North Texas congregation to take the country back to its Christian roots. He lamented that he lacked jurisdiction over the state Capitol, where he had gone during the 2021 Texas legislative session to lobby for conservative priorities like expanded gun rights and a ban on abortion.

“But you know what I got jurisdiction over this morning is an election coming up on Saturday,” Burden told parishioners. “I got a candidate that God wants to win. I got a mayor that God wants to unseat. God wants to undo. God wants to shift the balance of power in our city. And I have jurisdiction over that this morning.”

What Burden said that day in May 2021 was a violation of a long-standing federal law barring churches and nonprofits from directly or indirectly participating in political campaigns, tax law experts told ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. Although the provision was mostly uncontroversial for decades after it passed in 1954, it has become a target for both evangelical churches and former President Donald Trump, who vowed to eliminate it.

*snip*

[ZonkerHarris]

1. God and guns. Every time you pull the trigger just say Jesus!

[republianmushroom]

2. Where is the DoJ ?

[House of Roberts]

3. Exhausting its budget trying to put Trump in jail.

Republicans are the ones who defund law enforcement, by kneecapping the DoJ and IRS so there's no accountability for white collar crime.

[Zeitghost]

11. DOJ?

These are tax statutes, not criminal ones.

[Bettie]

4. They have been doing it for years.

But, now they aren't even trying to hide it. They are out and proud that they are political organizations.

Take their tax exempt status away.

[Runningdawg]

5. The abuse is rampant in OK.

This links headline is voter fraud. The REAL story, hidden in the article, is churches holding campaign rallies.
From the link below -
The mostly middle-aged audience cheered from half-empty CHURCH pews as U.S. Senate candidate Jackson Lahmeyer called for an audit of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
“Election integrity is the No. 1 issue that our country faces today because if you do not have fair and legal elections, you don’t have a free country,” Lahmeyer said at the Make Oklahoma Free rally last month at CROSSROADS CHURCH in Oklahoma City.

https://www.normantranscript.com/news/allegations-of-election-fraud-linger-in-oklahoma-as-gop-candidates-seek-to-energize-voters/article_980b9846-85dc-11ec-bc4a-2b3791266839.html?fbclid=IwAR2Orv3PgiEfoLdHuhiTASiCHc5XlLrpdxH3j9Tzs1cetaV9900QUXSRkaU
I tried reporting church rallies to the IRS starting in early spring of last year and got nowhere. I asked here, I asked other Democratic and Atheist organizations for help repeatedly and never got a single reply.

[RockRaven]

6. They're probably confident that this SCOTUS would strike down all of the relevant laws if

anyone tried to actually enforce them. They're probably hoping to be prosecuted, just to get the case up to SCOTUS.

[Initech]

12. That's exactly why they're doing this. They want to get caught so they can make it a SCOTUS issue.

They want to overturn the Johnson Amendment. And since Chump stacked SCOTUS in their favor and Clarence Thomas went full fascist, you know that they absolutely would if given the opportunity. Say hello to religious super pacs and church sponsored ads painting conservative candidates as the more godly person than the other in the near future.

[Meadowoak]

7. If they want to weigh in on politics, they should pay TAXES like any other business.

[onecaliberal]

8. Grifters gonna grift. You can't blame them for thinking they're above the law. Never consequences.

[KS Toronado]

9. Is the IRS afraid to go after them

because of all the evil thoughts & prayers that would come their way?

[roamer65]

10. Tax their asses.

50 percent.