Posted on 03/06/2008 1:21:44 PM PST by fweingart
The ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee says the televangelist ministries that he's investigating for alleged financial misconduct may be ignorant about the seriousness of his probe, but they're "not going to get away with their stonewalling."
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) says he is sending out a second letter to well-known "prosperity gospel" ministries, asking them to address allegations they are using their tax-exempt status to pay for lavish lifestyles. Grassley reports he has received the cooperation of only two of the six televangelists under investigation -- Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn. The ministries of Paula White, Eddie Long, Creflo Dollar, and Kenneth Copeland have resisted the Finance Committee's probe.
The senator says he may eventually issue subpoenas to ask the ministries what they "have to hide." "I'm on sound ground as far as the law is concerned, the Constitution ... I think I've got public opinion behind me...," confirms Grassley. "So eventually it gets back to them -- do they think they can get away with stonewalling? I don't think they understand the seriousness of it, and that's why this second letter is going out." He adds that it matters not to him whether he is on sound ground politically speaking.
The Iowa senator fully expects the ministries to cooperate with the investigation. "I think in the end they will cooperate because in five years of investigations on non-profits, I've only had one person refuse to cooperate and that's [former lobbyist Jack] Abramoff -- and he's in prison," the lawmaker notes. "So I think that speaks about his lack of cooperation. That isn't why he's in prison, but that's the sort of a person [who] did not want to make things right."
Grassley says his investigation of the multi-million-dollar ministries has been a popular topic of discussion in Iowa, where he says letters to the editor have overwhelmingly encouraged his effort. Opponents believe the Internal Revenue Service should conduct the probe. The senator believes some of those making that argument may be ignorant of the tripartite nature of the U.S. government and not fully understand Congress' oversight responsibility. The IRS is under the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee.
It is a part of an investigation into a large number of non-profit organizations, not just these “prosperity” ministries.
Is this really in your job description, senator?
I pay tithe and I believe in God but the Church is its own worst enemy. They should have nothing to hide. Lawyers,Churches, tax exempt organizations and politicians should be forced to have full disclosure. I find nothing wrong with the truth!
And while we're at it, chuck Kay Bailey Hutchinson!
Senator Kay recently advanced an ammendment that would effectively kill any construction of a barrier between the USA and Mexico.
Can you elaborate some on that thesis and provide a source?
That would make the problem worse, not better.
I don't believe that is correct. All I have heard is Grassley going after about six television ministries.
Besides, the establishment of non-profits are not protected by the first amendment, Churches are. Equating churches with non-profits was an LBJ trick that many in the GOP are now falling for. Pure evil.
Exactly. What in the heck is this idiot doing? Regardless of how this is spun, once you begin to break into churches, metaphorically speaking, and grab parishoner or donor lists, it will be a tool to utterly destroy religion in America.
Agree. If the government starts getting the donor/tithe lists of all churches, well . . . can’t you just see the Clintons with that one?
If I were him I’d seek a closed door session with Pastor Melissa Scott.
Why in the hell is he wasting tax payers money on this crap?
Sometimes I think Republicans are sadomasochists.
I think it is criminal what some of these ministers do with the money that people send them. No one should get rich off of the ministry. The apostle Paul and Peter both died penniless as martyrs, not in 6 garage mansions!
However, investigating these churches opens the door to the government to go after all church information and I thought the 1st amendment was pretty clear. Grassley of all people should know this. Unfortunately, Republicans have forgotten they are the party of the constitution and limited government. Maybe it was all a bunch of hot air to get votes in the 80s and 90s anyway, who knows.
As for the RNC, I contributed at one time, but have decided that contributions to other institutions, like the right church, are a far better investment. I don’t want my money going to some child predator or toe-tapping pervert or even a big brother investigating Senator or Congressman’s re-election campaign.
I'd rather do without the US Senate than let that kind of INQUISITION be restarted.
That noted, I see little-to-no justification for a U.S. senator to be dragging privately-funded church ministries before his committee in order to badger them about how they spend their incomes. These evangelists are ordained ministers. Their church is a television audience as well as the folks who physically attend their services. They frequently ask for donations and duly receive large sums of money every week. Now, one may challenge their doctrine (I would) or even condemn them for misleading people in order to gain wealth for themselves but to use the law regarding non-profit organizations against even questionable church operations and ministers, ordering them to appear before some senate committee to be questioned like criminals, thus smearing evangelical ministries as a group, is simply wrong.
Senator Grassley is yet another Washington, D.C. politician in office far too long and drunk with his own sense of importance and delusions of power that the constitution never intended people like him to acquire in the first place. Another reason for term limits on these congressional critters.
I heard an interview with him on a Christian radio station recently. These ministries are being investigated because of public complaints, and also because of current or former employees who have knowledge of or suspicion about wrong-doing at these ministries.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t all tax-exempt entities have to abide by rules set up by the IRS?
I don’t know . . . I think it’s “pure evil” to use money, given for the purpose of furthering “the ministry,” for lavish lifestyles instead.
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