Recently, the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit in federal court against the IRS for failing to enforce the Johnson Amendment in the tax code against pastors and churches.  The lawsuit requests the court to enter an injunction against the Commissioner of the IRS to prohibit him from “continuing a policy of non-enforcement of the electioneering restrictions against churches and religious organizations.”  One of the issues the complaint raises as an example is Pulpit Freedom Sunday. The complaint states: ”More than 1500 clergy reportedly violated 501(c)(3) on October 7, 2012, in a deliberate and coordinated display of noncompliance with the electioneering restrictions of 501(c)(3), including prominent megachurches.”  The complaint goes on to allege that the IRS non-enforcement of the Johnson Amendment results in favoritism toward churches in violation of the Establishment Clause.

Legally speaking, this complaint has no merit and should be summarily dismissed.  As I detailed in an earlier blog, the IRS is not following a policy of non-enforcement.  Churches must remember that the IRS has not given up on auditing churches or enforcing the Johnson Amendment.

The lawsuit also has an insurmoutable legal hurdle in its way.  In order to bring a lawsuit against the federal government, a plaintiff must prove that it will be harmed in a specific and concrete way that is different from the harm experienced generally by the public at large.  It will be difficult, if not impossible, for FFRF to prove that it is being harmed by the IRS’ delay in enforcing the Johnson Amendment.

This lawsuit is really about two things.  First, it is about generating publicity for Freedom From Religion Foundation.  A quick lawsuit, even if it gets dismissed at a later point, can earn some headlines.  But secondly, this lawsuit is about fostering FFRF’s radical agenda.  FFRF, a group of radical separationist atheists, envisions a future where the tax code is used against churches and pastors to punish them for speaking out on issues of candidates and elections.  It wants to see pulpit police in the churches of America, and fines and penalties meted out if a pastor crosses whetever line the government chooses to draw.  Ultimately, FFRF does not want people of faith to have a voice in the public square.  It wantswhat its name says – freedom from religion.  And that is where its agenda is at odds with the fundamental rights of America’s churches and pastors.

I expect for this lawsuit to be dismissed and hope to be able to bring you news of that dismissal.  But do not be fooled, groups like FFRF will not stop and will continue to push their radical agenda of silencing churches and pastors.  America’s churches are a crucial component to the survival of our country.  The voice of the church must be free to impact culture and society and as the liberty of the church is restricted, society and culture suffers and declines.  That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom created the Church Project – to defend the right of the Church to be the Church.  If your church’s rights are threatened or violated, please contact us so our attorneys can help.

Well, ninety days have come and gone since over 1,500 pastors participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday on October 7,2012.  And the IRS has not taken any action against any of the pastors who participated.  Actually, the title of this blog post could have been “Four years and Counting” because Alliance Defending Freedom first launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008.  And since that time, Pulpit Freedom Sunday has occurred every year and thousands of pastors have participated through those four years.  But the IRS has not taken any action against any of the pastors who have ever participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday.

Now before you may be tempted to become complacent or to think that the IRS has given up on auditing churches, you should remember as I wrote in an earlier blog, that the IRS is in a bit of a reorganization when it comes to auditing churches.  The IRS has not given up on auditing churches and an IRS official even warned churches to remain silent about the last election.  So what is going on then and why hasn’t the IRS sought to enforce the Johnson Amendment against the pastors who participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday?

In 2011, I gave some reasons why I thought the IRS has not taken any action.  But the fact is that only the IRS know why it has chosen to remain silent. The IRS’ silence, though, should not cause us to lift up the pressure or to retreat from the battlefield.  The Johnson Amendment has been in place since 1954 and has been enforced now for over fifty-eight years.  It will not go away in an instant and the campaign to end the Johnson Amendment will be more akin to a siege than a blitzkrieg.  We must continue to press forward until the rights of churches and pastors are secured once and for all from the pernicious censorship that has occurred under the regime of the Johnson Amendment.

You can visit our Pulpit Freedom website to see a list of churches that participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday on October 7, 2012.  Why not take a moment to encourage these courageous pastors or to perhaps begin attending these churches who are standing firm and contending for the faith in our culture?  And if you are a pastor and want more information about your right to speak freely from the pulpit, visit our website and become part of the battle to protect and defend your constitutional rights.

Recently, an IRS official was quoted as saying that the IRS had suspended auditing churches.  Does this mean that the IRS has thrown up its hands and given up on enforcing the tax code against churches?  The answer is “no,” the IRS has not given up and the tax code still applies to churches.

The IRS official was Russell Renwicks with the Tax-Exempt and Government Entities division. He said that the IRS had received some complaints about potential violations of the tax code by churches this election cycle.  But he stated, “We are holding any potential church audits in abeyance.”  What did he mean by this?

Mr. Renwick’s statement stems from a 2009 court ruling involving the IRS’ regulations related to church audits.  These regulations began in 1984 when Congress passed the Church Audit Procedures Act (CAPA).  CAPA instituted several rules the IRS was required to follow when auditing any churches, and was passed to protect the constitutional rights of churches.

One of the requirements of CAPA is that an IRS official at the level of Regional Commissioner or above approve any church audits prior to the IRS contacting the church.  The IRS followed this requirement until 1998 when Congress reorganized the IRS.  After 1998, the IRS was no longer organized by regions of the country.  Instead, it became organized by the constituency it served.  So, until 1998, the IRS had regions like the Midwest region or the Northeast region.  After 1998, the IRS has divisions such as the small business division and the exempt organizations division.

One consequence of Congress reorganizing the IRS was that the position of Regional Commissioner no longer existed because there were no “regions” in need of a commissioner.  So the IRS designated the Director of Examinations in the Exempt Organizations division of the IRS to fulfill the requirement in CAPA previously fulfilled by the Regional Commissioners.

In 2009, a church in Minnesota was being audited by the IRS and challenged the audit.  The argument raised by the church was that the IRS was not complying with CAPA because it did not have a sufficiently high level official approving church audits.  A federal district court agreed and stopped the IRS’ audit of the church.

After this ruling, the IRS, to the best of our knowledge, shut down all of the church audits that it had ongoing, including one church audit handled by Alliance Defending Freedom.  The IRS stated that it was closing the church audit “because of a pending issue regarding the procedure used to initiate the inquiry.”  The “pending issue” was the Minnesota court’s ruling that the IRS was not in compliance with CAPA.

Since that time, the IRS has not been auditing any churches to the best of our knowledge.  It has proposed new regulations to designate a higher official in the ranks of the IRS to approve all church audits but it has never finalized those regulations.  No one really knows what the delay is, but we believe that the IRS will finalize its regulations at some point and will once again begin auditing churches.

In addition, the IRS still believes it has the authority to audit churches.  Its website discusses the requirements for instituting a church audit.  And that website was updated as late as November, 2012.

So when Mr. Renwicks said that the IRS was holding church audits in abeyance, he did not mean that the IRS was giving up and saying that it will never audit churches again.  All Mr. Renwicks said was that it was holding church audits in abeyance until it finalized its new regulations.  And we should remember that the IRS has the ability to go back in time and audit churches that it believes has violated the tax code during this time that it is not auditing churches.

And the IRS later came out and explicitly disavowed that Mr. Renwicks’ statement should be interpreted in a way to suggest that the IRS has given up on enforcing the tax code against churches.  The news story on this issue stated:

In response to queries from NBC News, the IRS disavowed comments by a regional official of its division overseeing tax-exempt organizations, who said last month that the agency was “holding any potential church audits in abeyance” while it revises its regulations in light of the 2009 ruling.

Dean Patterson, a spokesman for the IRS, said the official “misspoke,” adding: “The IRS continues to run a balanced program that follows up on potential non-compliance, while ensuring the appropriate oversight and review to determine that compliance activities are necessary and appropriate.”

The important point for churches to remember is that the IRS has not given up on enforcing the tax code against churches.  Churches must still be aware of the IRS regulations.  We have great resources on our website about those regulations to help churches understand their rights.

And we also must not give up on challenging the constitutionality of the Johnson Amendment and the IRS’ enforcement of that law.  Alliance Defending Freedom believes that the Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional and the IRS’ attempts to censor a pastor’s sermon from the pulpit violate the First Amendment.  For more information on this legal challenge, visit www.pulpitfreedom.org.

Alliance Defending Freedom stands ready to protect and defend the rights of churches, especially in relation to the IRS.  It is important that churches know and act on the right information in this critical area. If you have any specific question regarding what your church can do, please contact us and one of our attorneys will help.

It is a pastor’s distinct role to speak prophetically to the culture, including speaking biblical Truth to the political realm.  Although it is not always easy to exercise this role, as Pastor Danny Han explains in this video, it is time for pastors to speak up.

Pleas visit http://www.speakupmovement.org/Church for more information.

Pastors and church leaders always face an interesting combination of pressures when election season rolls around. And the 2012 election is no exception. How much do you discuss the issues in the election or should you as a pastor even discuss them at all?  The legalities of discussing issues in the election are sometimes difficult to figure out. And then there are the potential reactions of your church members to consider as well.  All of these combined may push you as a pastor to simply refrain from including anything about the election or the candidates in your sermon on Sunday.  But it is in fact vitally important for you as a pastor to speak up during the election and to be a voice for biblical truth and morality.

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.  But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” (Prov. 29:2).  This verse means that elections have consequences that matter for people.  And in our republican system of government, the consequences flow directly from the people we select to lead us.  Perhaps more than any other time in the history of nations, the consequences of leadership fall directly on the American people.  If we select unrighteous rulers, then we alone bear the responsibility for the consequences (the “groaning”) that will follow.

We have seen the consequences in the past of selecting leaders who fail to uphold biblical morality and truth.  And we continue to see those consequences today.  That’s why we want to connect you to resources to help you understand the issues and your right as a pastor to stand for biblical truth during the election.

If you are concerned about what your legal rights are, please download our guidelines for pastors and churches that will help you clarify what is legally allowed.  The bottom line, though, is that no pastor or church should ever fear the IRS when they stand for biblical truth.

If you want to understand the various attacks to religious freedom and the church, watch this video entitled “Legal Threats Facing the Church” The video outlines a mere fraction of what we see happening today that threatens the Church and religious freedom.

If you need guidance about the issues in this election, Dr. Wayne Grudem, a respected theologian, and author of “Politics According to the Bible” provides clear cut biblically based details for the positions of both parties. Use this resource as a guide for applying biblical truth to the issues confronting our nation today.

Dr. Jim Garlow, Pastor of Skyline Church in San Diego, has a timely and urgent message for pastors in the video “The Call to Stand.” This video, produced in part by the Family Resource Council, encourages pastors that the time to stand boldly for biblical issues is now.

Overall, our desire is that you, as a pastor, be equipped, encouraged, and emboldened to stand as a voice for biblical truth during this election.  Pastor, you are needed now more than ever.  It’s time to speak up.