The IRS has now rejected a Texas Christian group’s tax exempt status for a shocking reason: they did it because this group believes that all of the teachings in the Bible are affiliated with the Republican party.
Stephen Martin is the IRS director of exemptions, and he sent a letter to the group, which is called Christians Engaged, and he said that the reason he was denying their tax exempt status is because the group uses “Christian teachings that are typically aligned with the Republican party and their candidates” in order to educate people how to vote.
Fox Business reported:
“By teaching members about various issues such as the ‘sanctity of life, the biblical definition of marriage, biblical justice, laws and lawlessness, freedom of speech, government and business ethics, religious liberty, fiscal responsibility in government, human trafficking, U.S. and Israel relations, and borders and immigration, they are engaging in prohibited campaign intervention.”
“You might educate voters on what the bible says about issues, but your educational activities aren’t neutral,” Martin wrote. “You are promoting topics that are typically affiliated with distinct candidates and specific party platforms.”
This group was first formed in July 2019, and it also devotes a lot of time to educating individuals on how to choose between “imperfect candidates”. They urge members to look at what the candidate says about the issues and what determine whether the “beliefs of the candidate align with the bible,” according to Martin.
Christians Engaged describes itself as an “educational, Christian, and non-partisan” group, and they have a section on their website where they discuss how they want to encourage individuals to vote in all elections so that they can “impact our culture.”
Of course, Christians Engaged appealed the decision, saying that they are not political. They said they don’t produce voter guides.
“All we want to do is encourage more people to vote and participate in the political process,” Christians Engaged founder and President Bunni Pounds said. “Why would anyone be against that?”
However, the IRS noted that the group seems to be filled with “GOP activists” and that is why they decided that the organization didn’t qualify for tax-exempt status.
Do you think that the IRS is going too far here?