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Question: What two words does a blackmailer fear most? Answer: “Go ahead!” Once a blackmailer’s ammunition is gone, so is the threat, as long as the victim is willing to incur the consequences. As our government’s most abusive pit pull, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), continues to bully, threaten, and oppress churches of all faiths in our country while waving the carrot of “tax exemption” in the faces of church leaders, it is high time that the persecuted faiths have their “Epiphany,” and, in unison, tell Uncle Sam where else he can put that carrot. Davy vs. Goliath aside, there...

A couple of days before the 2004 presidential election, an Episcopal clergyman named George Regas delivered a sermon to congregants in Pasadena in the form of a mock debate among Jesus, President Bush and Democratic candidate John Kerry over the Iraq war. Regas left no doubt about his anti-war sentiments, saying that Jesus would have told Bush that the war "has led to disaster," but did not specifically endorse anyone in the election. Eight months later, however, All Saints Episcopal Church received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service declaring "a reasonable belief ... that you may not be a...

Why Can’t America Have Human Rights? Thursday, September 14th, 2006, 6:30 pm The Nave at The Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive, New York www.breakthrough.tv An evening of performance and talks on Human Rights in the United States, including the death penalty, detentions and deportations, poverty, and violence and discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, and sexuality. The Forum will work to strengthen our connections and raise our voices to build an America that supports human rights instead of violating them. Speakers and performers include: Reverend Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. Larry Cox of Amnesty International USA Mallika Dutt...

WASHINGTON (National Catholic Register) – In June, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service put churches on notice for the 2006 campaign season. It said it would step up enforcement of its rules governing political participation by churches and other tax-exempt religious organizations. So does this mean that bishops, priests and other Catholic leaders are in jeopardy of being muzzled in key political debates? No, according to Tom Nash, director of special projects for Steubenville, Ohio-based Catholics United for the Faith. He said that Catholic organizations can speak out freely on political issues without fear of losing their tax-exempt status. “The existing...

Recent letter to my state reps regarding Premises ID component of NAIS.Dear Representative, An interesting thought occurred to me on the way out to feed the pigs: Premise ID implies farm. Farm buildings are tax exempt real estate in many states. If the Vermont Agency of Agriculture (AoA) is going to be forcing the obligations of Premises ID onto everyone with any livestock, then those people with even one chicken should also accrue the benefit of being a farm - that is to say any portion of their property used for said livestock should be exempt from real estate taxes....

NAACP Will Challenge the IRS Threat In Federal Court 3/30/2006 6:33:00 PM To: National Desk Contact: John C. White of the NAACP, 410-580-5125; Web: http://www.naacp.org BALTIMORE, March 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The NAACP announced today that it is taking steps to challenge the IRS's examination of the organization in federal court later this year. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) announced today that it is taking steps to challenge in federal court the Internal Revenue Service's threat to revoke the NAACP's tax-exempt status because its Chairman, Julian Bond, criticized the Bush administration's policies in a speech...

LOS ANGELES - The Internal Revenue Service has warned a prominent liberal church that it could lose it's tax-exempt status because of an anti-war sermon a guest preacher gave on the eve of the 2004 presidential election, according to church officials. The Rev. George F. Regas did not urge parishioners at All Saints Episcopal Church to support either President Bush or John Kerry, but he was critical of the Iraq war and Bush's tax cuts. The IRS warned the church in June that its tax-exempt status was in jeopardy because such organizations are prohibited from intervening in political campaigns and...

"On Church and State", by Lores Rizkalla, Freeper 'JustaWoman' Billy Graham said that "bad politicians are elected by good people who don't vote." I think the same is true of "bad propositions" passing because good people decide to stay home on election day. This Tuesday, California (among many other states) has a special election. Statistics say that an average of 5% of registered voters get out to vote in an off-year election. What's worse is the truth so beautifully, yet sadly, written by William Butler Yeats': "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Where...

Many tax-exempt animal rights organizations like PeTA deceive the public, endorse violence and fund terrorism. If you think groups like PeTA should lose their tax status, sign our petition! Since the mid 1990's, NAIA has been prodding government to do its job and protect the public from corrupt charities that receive tax breaks while violating their exempt purpose, committing crimes and supporting terrorism. Read some of our previous action alerts and press releases and then sign our petition calling for IRS review of 'charities' that operate like mobsters Sign Petition

When Pastor Chan Chandler proclaimed a few weeks before last November's election that East Waynesville Baptist Church would become a political church, parishioner Ann Stokley says her "jaw dropped to the floor." That the young pastor would call John Kerry supporters out as unfit Christians may not have been that surprising during a heated election in this county of some 60 Southern Baptist steeples nestled in the Appalachians. But Tuesday night, six months after the election - and a week after nine members claim they were kicked out of the church for refusing to vote Republican - Mr. Chandler, a...

WASHINGTON — As one pastor resigned this week amid a firestorm over the role of politics in his Baptist church, a U.S. congressman continues to try to make it easier for religious leaders and their congregations to engage in partisan political activity on the church's time and dime. Rev. Chan Chandler (search) resigned his post as pastor of the Waynesville Baptist Church (search) in North Carolina on Tuesday after nine members accused him of leading other members to push them out because they didn't agree with his pro-Republican views. Chandler has denied claims that the nine were voted out because...

Federal prosecutors announced Thursday they have indicted Pete Seda, the head of the Ashland branch of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, on fraud and tax charges. Seda, also known as Pirouz Sedaghaty and Abu Yunus, and another officer of the foundation, Soliman Hamd Al-Buthe, are part of a three-count indictment for illegally transporting $150,000 to Saudi Arabia. The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, charges them with conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing a false IRS return for a tax-exempt corporation and failure to file a report of international transportation of currency. Known locally as a peace activist,...

Tax-Exempt Hospitals' Practices Challenged46 Lawsuits Allege That Uninsured Pay the Most TUPELO, Miss. -- When Tim Gardner was born at the hospital here 53 years ago, it was just "one little building on the hill" in a town best known as Elvis Presley's birthplace. From those humble beginnings, North Mississippi Medical Center has grown into the largest non-metropolitan hospital in the country, a booming enterprise with a complex of glass and marble buildings and 40 satellite clinics stretching into Alabama and Tennessee. The company, incorporated in Delaware, has nearly $300 million in the bank and "exceptional profitability," according to one...

Kweisi Mfume recently announced his departure as NAACP President, and not a moment too soon. His tenure has been a disaster for the storied civil rights organization, driving it deeper into liberal irrelevance. But that doesn't mean it still shouldn't be defended against the current IRS probe of its tax-exempt status. Back in October the NAACP was informed that it may have violated a law that prohibits charities, churches and other nonprofits from engaging in partisan activities. Under Mr. Mfume and chairman Julian Bond, the group has accused President Bush of being at war with black America; compared Republicans to...

Seattle Budget Follies The fiscally incontinent Seattle City Council has approved the 2005 budget. The council changed little of Mayor Greg Nickels' 2005 proposed budget, except by adding almost $6 million in spending, with most of that going to streets and bridges, libraries and social services. The council would finance most of its additions through a 1.5 percent increase in garbage, water, sewer and drainage charges. The increase would cost the average homeowner about $16 more a year. In a nutshell, the council socked every homeowner with a fee increase on essential services, in order to: a) Protect $109 opera...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement of Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice: Catholics for a Free Choice today filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (news - web sites) against Catholic Answers, Inc. for blatant violation of its charitable status. CFFC called on the IRS to exercise its "authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of Catholic Answers and bring an action to enjoin this organization from again distributing this guide through national newspaper advertisements in October." On Aug. 31, the antichoice group published an ad containing the text of its Voter's...

A Catholic group plans to ask the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax-exempt status of a Miami, Fla., church, where prominent Democrats helped turn the Sunday church service into what the South Florida Sun-Sentinel called a "political rally." The Catholic League said the bishop of Miami's New Birth Baptist Church, Bishop Victor T. Curry, "welcomed" former Democratic presidential candidate Rev. Al Sharpton and the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe. "Rev. Sharpton, speaking from the pulpit, added to the politicized atmosphere by shouting, 'We're not people who are going to be beat twice,'" Catholic League President William...

Campaign-finance watchdog groups are questioning the ability of the Internal Revenue Service to track soft-money fundraising in light of a multi-million-dollar mistake by the Republican Governors Association. They also say the IRS has little incentive to enforce accurate reporting because the organization is tax-exempt under tax code section 527. At the same time, the issue raises serious issues with how the RGA keeps its books, the congressional newspaper The Hill reported. The RGA has told the IRS that last year it failed to report more than $3 million it raised in the months preceding the gubernatorial races in Kentucky, Louisiana,...

SPARTANBURG, SC (Talon News) -- Liberal anti-Bush online political activist group MoveOn.org sent a warning message to its members this week regarding the upcoming ruling by the Federal Election Commission about the legality of so-called 527 groups accepting soft campaign contributions to run political ads."The Republican National Committee is pressing the Federal Election Commission to issue new rules that would cripple groups that dare to communicate with the public in any way critical of President Bush or members of Congress," MoveOn.org charged in an e-mail to supporters.In the e-mail, MoveOn.org attempts to scare "conservative, progressive, labor, religious, secular, social...

Take a Bite Out of PETA! Posted January 19, 2004 Despite its deceptively warm-and-fuzzy public image, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has donated over $150,000 to criminal activists -- including those jailed for arson, burglary, and even attempted murder. In 2001, PETA donated $1,500 to the North American Earth Liberation Front, a criminal organization that the FBI classifies as "domestic terrorists." And since 2000, rank-and-file PETA activists have been arrested over 80 times for breaking various laws during PETA protests. Charges included felony obstruction of government property, criminal mischief, assaulting a cabinet official, felony vandalism, performing obscene...