What's legal in campaign contributions?

[Ningmom]

Hi, all --

I have two questions. First: may a church official urge parishioners (from the pulpit or through a letter) to vote for or against a particular candidate or proposition? Doesn't that jeopardize a church's tax-exempt status? I'm thinking in particular of some bishop in CA who sent a letter to the priests of the parishes ordering them to tell their parishioners to vote YES on Prop 8.

Second: may a church congregation donate, in the name of its church, to a political cause? I looked at www.antigayblacklist.org (think I have that right) and among the contributors were specific church names, like "Calvary Church, Corona, CA" (may not have that name right; don't quote me!). Doesn't that jeopardize a church's tax-exempt status, too?

Thanks for any info, all of you legal eagles out there!

[Matt Algren]

They're allowed to speak on political issues, but not particular candidates. I'm pretty sure the rule is the same with regard to money, which is why the LDS church, for example, didn't give directly, but told parishoners that they were required to give money personally.

[tdogg]

I predict the organizations donating to Prop 8 will come out just fine. This has been going on for eons, and they do preach politics from the pulpit. But either no one complains, or if they do, no one with authority will take any action. It's frustrating, but I don't see anything being done about this.

[Unmasked]

That seems really underhanded...

Question. My pastor's wife, who annoys the crap out of me, spent most of election season e-mailing people about how evil Barack Obama is. Does electronic-communique count, since these are sent from the church's e-mail address, to the entire church, or is this just an unpleasant fundie telling people what to believe?

[tdogg]

I think it would "count" if sent from the church email address to emails of congregational members. However, the likelihood that any enforcement or regulatory action would be taken is probably minimum. Perhaps if enough people complained, this could being to be brought under control? I've attended churches in the past (grew up in them, ex's church, parents' church, etc.) and just about every church I attended preached politics from the pulpit. Some even handed out flyers which checked the candidates to vote for and how to vote on ballot initiatives. I have no doubt this was common on Nov. 4th.

I think we can solve some of our national budget woes, and hey, maybe even some of California's budget crisis by taking away tax exempt status from religious-based organizations. Resolves the issue on preaching politics and telling people how to vote, and helps bring more money into the state and national budgets. Sounds like a win-win to me!

[Unmasked]

I would like to see churches loose their tax exemption. The Church of Satan is eligible to get it, but they don't take it because they believe that churches should pay taxes.

I remember researching Satanism for a side project. Nice people. Selfish, but not greedy. Fairly ethical bunch. They don't rationalize anything. Even in their hedonism, they're more moral than most religious people. Interesting how Satanists can be better people than Christians. Of course somebody once told me that it doesn't matter if you're a good person. I think that's the reason I started moving away from Christians. It's disgusting that being a foul person is alright if you profess a belief in Jesus and take the Bible absolutely literally.

[Matt Algren]

I think we can solve some of our national budget woes, and hey, maybe even some of California's budget crisis by taking away tax exempt status from religious-based organizations. Resolves the issue on preaching politics and telling people how to vote, and helps bring more money into the state and national budgets. Sounds like a win-win to me!
That would both hamper the good work that most churches are able to do with their tax exempt funds and give the money to the government, which we know is less capable when it comes to charitable works. My church, for example, would be able to do very much less with our food bank and relief work to Nicaragua.

I don't think it would resolve the preaching politics issue either. If anything, it would exacerbate the situation.

Also keep in mind that it probably wouldn't just be churches that would lose their tax exemption, it would be all charitable organizations. Otherwise, it'd be pretty easy to funnel money from a church to a charity or change the church's designation to charity to get around the system.

Honestly, I don't have any problem with a church being involved with political issues. That's not to say that I always agree with what a church does, and I think it's silly and hypocritical for them to cry foul when people bring it to light. But I don't see why they shouldn't be able to be somewhat politically active. Put it this way: Do we have a problem with the MCC showing up at Pride Parades and speaking out for us?

[tdogg]

I don't think it would resolve the preaching politics issue either. If anything, it would exacerbate the situation.

But I don't see why they shouldn't be able to be somewhat politically active. Put it this way: Do we have a problem with the MCC showing up at Pride Parades and speaking out for us?

Actually what I meant is that churches could then preach all the politics they want, not that they would stop it. Showing up at a pride parade is a little different than distributing placards telling people how to vote. Honestly, I believe that churches shouldn't preach politics. If it's something that the pastor wants to discuss, he should do it in the privacy of a person's home, not in church. It alienates the others who don't agree with the pastor - either they become afraid to even discuss politics and voting or they feel guilty and give in to whatever the pastor tells them.

Just my opinion. As far as tax exemptions go, I doubt you have to worry about any churches losing them. My opinion on taxes probably wouldn't be shared among anyone here - I believe in a flat tax and doing away with the current long, drawn-out system that favors the rich and organizations and sticks it to the working class. If a church is using the money to do good things, I don't see anything wrong with that. But I do see problems with a tax-exempt organization donating millions of dollars to a political campaign (especially one such as Prop 8). If they want to donate fine, but I hope those donations aren't being claimed on the organization's tax returns.

[u-dog]

I don't know whether it applies to a ballot referendum or proposition or not but I do know that a church that endorses a candidate or particular political party is abusing its tax-exempt status. The pastor's wife who is encouraging parishioners not to vote for a particular candidate is violating the law if she is using a church computer and a church email list to send her emails. If she is using a computer that she owns and is using her own address book from her home ... she is probably not violating the law.

I had an Obama bumper sticker on my personal vehicle and everyone knew who I was supporting, but I never mentioned it during work hours and especially not from the pulpit.

When I donated money for the no on prop 8 campaign through HRC, they went out of their way to tell me that the money I had donated was NOT tax-deductable. If churches are using tax-exempt contributions from parishioners to support the Prop 8 campaign (rather than from accumulated assets for instance) I think that they were in violation of the law. It seems to me that any funds that were used for that purpose should be taxable just as my donations were.

Udog

[Rick336]

I remember researching Satanism for a side project..... They don't rationalize anything.

Not hard to believe.

Rick