Sid
11-17-2006, 02:55 PM
A religious liberties attorney Thursday issued an open challenge to the Internal Revenue Service, daring the tax agency to take church leaders to court for violating restrictions against religious involvement in political campaigns.
Kevin Hasson, founder and chairman of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, reissued a two-year-old offer to church leaders -- the organization would defend them against the IRS for free if they are charged with violating laws that prohibit non-profit, tax-exempt organizations from advocating for or against political candidates.
We will defend anything, short of incitement to violence, ... [that] the pastor says to the congregation," Hasson told a group of conservative lawyers at the annual Federalist Society meeting in Washington, D.C. The IRS to date has never risked a court battle.
Lawyer Challenges IRS to Sue Churches over Political Advocacy (http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200611/CUL20061116b.html)
Kevin Hasson, founder and chairman of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, reissued a two-year-old offer to church leaders -- the organization would defend them against the IRS for free if they are charged with violating laws that prohibit non-profit, tax-exempt organizations from advocating for or against political candidates.
We will defend anything, short of incitement to violence, ... [that] the pastor says to the congregation," Hasson told a group of conservative lawyers at the annual Federalist Society meeting in Washington, D.C. The IRS to date has never risked a court battle.
Lawyer Challenges IRS to Sue Churches over Political Advocacy (http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200611/CUL20061116b.html)