ABC News reports that 100 churches across the entire country participated in Sunday's Pulpit Initiative, in which ministers endorse political candidates from the pulpit in violation of IRS tax code regulating tax-exempt organizations. That number is an increase over the last effort, but still only a tiny, tiny fraction of the nation's houses of worship, of course. Still, it might only take the IRS challenging one of the violators with sanctions to create the legal showdown organizers seek. It sounds like the agency is paying attention, at the very least:
"We are aware of recent press reports, and will monitor the situation and take action as appropriate," IRS spokesman Robert Marvin said.
In other news, I can't help noticing that the ABC article contains quotes from at least 3 ministers, obviously passionate about their freedom of speech, who believe tax exemption requirements should not apply to them, and only one very small quote at the very end of the article suggesting otherwise. If we can't get some actually relevant facts (courts have decided similar issues before, etc.), how about at least some balance?
