In light of the controversy surrounding the investigation into All Saints Episcopal in Southern California, this should be an interesting matter for the IRS to look into in Ohio.
A group of religious leaders has sent a complaint to the Internal Revenue Service requesting an investigation of two large churches in Ohio that they say are improperly campaigning on behalf of a conservative Republican running for governor.
In their complaint, the clergy members contend that the two Columbus-area churches, Fairfield Christian Church and the World Harvest Church, which were widely credited with getting out the Ohio vote for President Bush in 2004, have allowed their facilities to be used by Republican organizations, promoted the candidate, J. Kenneth Blackwell, among their members and otherwise violated prohibitions on political activity by tax-exempt groups.
They are asking the I.R.S. to examine whether the churches’ tax exemptions should be revoked and are requesting that Mark W. Everson, the federal tax commissioner, seek an injunction to stop what they consider improper activities.
The NYT article is a little thin on the details surrounding what the politically conservative churches may have done to violate tax law, but there were a few activities that may raise eyebrows at the IRS.
For example, while private groups (including political parties) can rent space within a house of worship for a political event, the group is supposed to pay the ministry a market-rate fee. Last year, however, Fairfield Christian Church hosted a meeting of the Fairfield County Republican Party Central Committee free of charge. A month later, the Republican Club of Northwest Fairfield County held a fund-raiser at the church. A local GOP official said the party paid a fee, but he forgot how much. In another instance, political candidates were invited to a church event, but a Democrat was left off the invitation list.
Considering the scrutiny the IRS is giving to All Saints, which seems to have done far less partisan political work, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with these Ohio ministries.
For that matter, it’s also worth noting that the Ohio complaints were raised by local religious leaders, not outsiders advocating church-state separation. The common response from the religious right is that this is generally a fight between churches and religious leaders that want to engage in more political work and secularists who resist. In Ohio, these are ministers complaining to the IRS, not civil libertarians.