Monday, November 07, 2005

First Amendment Rights for All?

The LA Times reports that All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena has been warned by the IRS that it is under investigation for alleged intervention in the 2004 presidential election and may as a consequence lose its tax-exempt status.

The allegation has to do with a sermon during the campaign that was openly critical of Bush's policies but did not make any endorsement of either candidate.

While SWNID will die on whatever hill President Bush tells us to, and while we are happy to see Episcopalians go down after our own brief flirtation with Anglican-style power with the Miers nomination, we sincerely hope that the IRS will knock it off with this outrageous investigation. It's clear enough that the church didn't make a formal endorsement of a candidate. It's also clear enough that many churches are doing exactly what this one did: avoiding formal endorsements while speaking very pointedly on issues related to campaigns.

This is not a case of the lefties losing the advantage that they've come to expect. Conservative churches have been just as politically active as liberal ones in the last twenty years, and they've had more influence to boot. There's no reason for the right to cheer that the left is getting what they deserve, because the right deserves it too.

If the IRS can sanction a liberal, mainline church in this way, it won't take much to sanction dozens of conservative churches, and it will happen sooner than you can say President Hillary Clinton.

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