On Sept. 27, 2006 Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) introduced the Religious Freedom Act of 2006 (S. 3957), to protect houses of worship or meditation from losing their tax-exemption when they speak out on "public issues, election contests, and pending legislation made in a theological or philosophical context." Inhofe has introduced this legislation with the backdrop of recent IRS investigations into churches alleging that partisan politics was mixed into sermons. However, current law already allows religious organizations to discuss the issues of the day, but not to endorse or oppose candidates. With vague wording and lack of definition for "election contests" S. 3957 could open the door to allow places of worship to engage in highly partisan activity. This only further blurs the line between issue advocacy and electioneering. This legislation also discriminates against non-religious 501(c)(3) organizations, that would then be prohibited to engage in similar political activity as houses or worship.

The BNA Money and Politics story can be read here (subscription required). See The History of Church Electioneering page.

The group Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a 501(c)(3), plans on distributing at least one million voter guides before the November election. This is more of a moderate response to voter guides put out by more conservative religious groups that discuss moral values. These voter guides highlight church teachings on war, poverty, social justice, abortion, contraception and homosexuality. Secular groups have published and distributed election guides for many years now. The Common Good guide summarizes themes of Catholic social teaching, "including 'prioritizing the needs of the poor and vulnerable' -- and lists 18 'issues important to Catholics,' including immigration, the environment, nuclear disarmament and workers' rights."

The liberal evangelical magazine Sojourners and the anti-poverty group Call to Renewal has put out "Voting God's Politics," which discusses issues and not individual candidates.

Even the term 'voter guide' has been so tainted by the religious right that people are afraid that ours is going to be just a left-wing version of theirs, a thinly camouflaged signal to vote for particular candidates," said Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners. "Our guide levels the playing field; it makes clear that God is not a Republican or a Democrat." In numbers, however, the battle of the voter guides is still not an even match. Sojourners has distributed 50,000 of its brochures and plans to print 150,000 more. Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition, said her group will distribute "millions" of its guides, which she said it is now compiling, to candidates in key races.

The Washington Post discusses how voter guides are being published from all political and religious viewpoints.

The LA Daily News reported that the nonprofit status of numerous houses of worship throughout California was put at risk when financial donations were given to political candidates that came from collection plates. These cases of campaign contributions clearly act as political campaign activity. Some church officials cited in the article claimed they were unaware of the problem until the candidate returned the money.

In Los Angeles alone, 39 churches, synagogues and Buddhist temples were identified by political candidates as contributing more than $15,000 to their election campaigns since 1998, according to city Ethics Commission records.

Experts say the issues raise questions over whether the IRS is being even-handed. While the federal tax agency has taken on All Saints, some say it may be overlooking others' political donations as well as whether churches are using federal funds solely for intended social programs.

A lawsuit by the Christian Civic League of Maine (CCLM), challenging the electioneering communications provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was dismissed yesterday. CCLM argued that the provisions are unconstitutional; pertaining to an ad they wanted to air last spring, titled the "Crossroads." The ad identified Senator Snowe, a candidate in the June 13 primary. The court rejected the challenge because the ad campaign was on legislation that had already been voted on.

Read the BNA Money & Politics (subscription required) story.

U.S. clears Tariq Ramadan of being a supporter of terrorism, but maintains that he will not be granted a visa. Ramadan is a highly regarded, leading Muslim scholar and currently a fellow at the University of Oxford. In January 2004, he was offered a position at the University of Notre Dame and was granted a specialized nonimmigrant visa, but was then informed by the U.S. Embassy in Bern, Switzerland that his visa had been revoked. This exemplifies a harsh consequence for giving to a charity with alleged connections to Hamas, before Hamas was designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

The Washington Post reported on this latest update of Ramadan’s status.

Ramadan said his contributions to the French-based Committee for Charity and Aid to Palestinians (CBSP) were apparently seen as support for the Palestinian movement Hamas, which Washington has listed as a terrorist organization. However, he said he had sent the funds in 2000, long before Hamas was declared terrorist. He noted the CBSP was legal in France, and that the French city of Lille had cooperated with it for several years in charity projects for Palestinians.

An AP story reported that a federal lawsuit filed in Cleveland charges that Ohio’s Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, and Barbara Riley, the Director of the Department of Job and Family Services (DJFS), violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) requiring that voter registration opportunities are available in public assistance offices. Their research has found that low income Ohio citizens were not given assistance in registering to vote, especially in the most populous counties. As well, the lawsuit says that Ken Blackwell and Barbara Riley were advised of the lack of voter registration problem in February, yet nothing was done to resolve it

The National Voting Rights Institute, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, based it in part on research supplied by ACORN that claims interviews ACORN conducted outside of public assistance agencies found that few low-income people were offered an opportunity to register to vote.

It is interesting to note that the Secret Service yesterday released White House visitor records of certain Republican activists, including Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Democratic National Committee (DNC). The Abramoff investigation indicates that lobbyists had access to the White House through conservative activists like Norquist and Reed.

Newly disclosed Secret Service records show that Norquist, who runs the nonprofit Americans for Tax Reform, was cleared for at least 97 visits to the White House complex between 2001 and 2006, including a half-dozen with the president.

The AP Story can be read here.

This afternoon the House passed H.R.4844, the "Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006," which would require all citizens to present a photo ID when voting. After voters have faced wide spread trouble at the polls through the primary season caused by human errors or by voting machines, an additional barrier could be in place if this would become law. Many Americans, such as the elderly or those who do not drive might not easily be able to attain the proper identification.

The bill would require everyone to present a photo ID before voting in federal elections by 2008. By 2010 voters would have to have photo IDs that certified they were citizens. In response to criticism that this would be a burden for the poor, the bill stipulates that states must provide the identification cards free of charge to those who can't afford them.

Steny Hoyer accurately stated;

"This bill is tantamount to a 21st century poll tax," said Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md. "It will disenfranchise large number of legal voters."

On Monday September 18, Representatives Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service expressing great concern over its Political Activity Compliance Initiative (PACI). They intently warn that the IRS initiative could be a harmful obstruction to an exempt organizations' capacity to discuss matters of public policy. They are asking that the IRS alter the political intervention rules to be clearly well defined for nonprofits. The letter specifically addresses investigations into houses of worship, with the point that the free speech of clergy is at stake.

Despite the release of additional IRS guidance on political intervention, we are unclear as to why statements that solely take an opinion on issues of the day are grounds for revocation of a tax exemption.

Schiff and Jones also referred to the OMB Watch report released in July.

The OMB Watch report showed that the IRS claims of violation were based only on cases not dismissed after two rounds of investigations and that no violation was found in nearly two-thirds — 64 percent — of all completed investigations.

The letter to the IRS can be found here.

Yesterday the FBI along with the Joint Terrorism Task Force raided the Southfield, Michigan offices of a well respected American Muslim relief organization, Life for Relief & Development. The search warrants were obtained for criminal reasons, but no further reasoning has been disclosed. The charity is cooperating with this investigation, but there is concern about its timing. In less than a week Ramadan will begin, an important time for donations that would normally rise during the holy month.

Life for Relief describes itself on its Web site as the largest American Muslim humanitarian relief organization.

In addition to providing emergency relief in the form of food and medicine, Life for Relief runs programs for orphans and built a computer center in Iraq, Alkhatib said. Its Web site says it has improved schools in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan and worked to improve Iraq's drinking water infrastructure.The charity says it has provided more than $50 million in aid to more than 13 million people around the world.

These stories out of Michigan can be found Here and here.

Posted by Amanda Adams, 01:11:18 PM



An Insignificant Number of Black Churches Gain from Faith-Baised Initiative
After the establishment of President Bush's faith-based initiative program in 2002, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies recently conducted a survey of over 700 black churches, concluding that black churches have only been minimally affected. This is detrimental to a vital and successful source of social service programs, especially in the northeast. However, despite some political concern that churches which ideologically support Bush would overwhelmingly be helped, liberal churches were more likely to apply for the grants.

The Bush administration's faith-based initiative is reaching only a tiny percentage of the nation's black churches, most of which have limited capacity to run social programs, hampering the initiative's promise of empowering those congregations to help the needy, according to a study to be released today.

The Washington Post story can be found here.

The Internal Revenue Service informed the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena California that they have until September 29 to turn over all documents it produced during the 2004 election year that have references to any political candidate. In response to this investigation the rector will seek legal aid.

All Saints came under IRS scrutiny shortly after Regas, the church's former rector, delivered a sermon that depicted Jesus in a mock debate with then-presidential candidates George W. Bush and John F. Kerry. The sermon did not endorse either candidate. . . .

"These people are offended," said the Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, after delivering an impassioned sermon about the investigation to a standing-room-only crowd of about 900. "Freedom of speech and freedom of religion have been assaulted by this act of the IRS, and I think my people want to be heard in court."

Yes, a church may not endorse a candidate, but it has the right to speak about the current events that do not stop in the wake of an election.

The recent LA Times articles can be found here and here. The New York Times also reported today on this issue as elections near.

Posted by Amanda Adams, 06:06:58 PM

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

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