Churches, Politics, and the IRS

When the IRS investigated All Saints Episcopal Church in Los Angeles for possible violations of a prohibition on politicking--after its minister had preached a sermon critical of the Bush administration--we all knew it was politically motivated. After all, as Amy Sullivan pointed out, the IRS wasn't going after the church that kicked out Kerry supporters or the churches that gave the Bush campaign their member directories.

I still think it's politically motivated, but now I think I might have gotten the exact motivation wrong...

Yesterday's Chronicle has a story about conservative religious organizations lining up to defend All Saints...and why the church isn't happy about it. The All Saints position is that the prohibition on endorsing candidates is a good thing, but that the minister's sermon never crossed that line. Conservative religious groups, on the other hand, hope to use the All Saints case to weaken or eliminate the rule. (I think they're looking past Bush in this; they're already free to do pretty much whatever they want, knowing Bush's people won't bother them, but they want to make sure they can continue to do so after the government is in the hands of people who are less sympathetic.)

One of All Saints' 'supporters' is Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), who has introduced the "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act", a bill that would effectively remove all restrictions on political activity by non-profit organizations. This would allow right-wing congregations to do openly what they currently do on a wink-and-nod basis: use their resources to elect religious conservative candidates.

So given the way this is playing out, I can't help wondering if the initial motivation was not to intimidate critics of Bush (which, let's face it, is playing for very small stakes) but to get the law repealed altogether. The IRS targets a liberal church in a case that is blatantly anti-free speech; this gives the conservative churches a case they can use for their ultimate goal, and neutralizes some liberal opposition (or, at the very least, forces liberals to take a more nuanced position--which amounts to the same thing). It's all kabuki.

Maybe that was the goal all along. Then again, maybe it really was just intimidation (never underestimate the sheer pettiness of this administration). And maybe it started out as intimidation but evolved into something else, a game for much higher stakes.

Whatever the case, the IRS has given the wingnut churches an amazing gift--and they clearly intend to use it.

[That's all, folks]