The IRS is violating the free speech of a Christian nonprofit’s biblical viewpoint by denying its 501(3)(c) status, according to an attorney representing the organization.
“They are also violating the free exercise of religion protections that the constitution provides,” said Lea Patterson, an attorney with First Liberty Institute on behalf of Christians Engaged. “It's not every day that a federal agency claims Bible teachings are typically affiliated with any party and much less Republican.”
The controversy began when the IRS denied 501(3)(c) status to the nonprofit organization that educates and empowers average Christians to pray for the nation and elected officials, to vote in every election, and to be civically engaged.
“You do not qualify as an organization described in IRS Section 501(3)(c). You engage in prohibited political campaign intervention. You are also not operated exclusively for one or more exempt purposes within the meaning of Section 501(3)(c) because you operate for a substantial non-exempt private purpose and for the private interests of the D party,” the May 18 letter stated. According to the letter, "D" denotes "Republican."
"Information you present and on your website is not neutral," the letter says. "You instruct individuals on how Christians should use the Bible and vote the Bible."
The decision was appealed by First Liberty Institute on June 16.
“A lot of our concern is that if now Bible teachings are an indication of a political campaign intervention that could put even a church’s tax-exemption at risk,” Patterson told Legal Newsline.
As previously reported, conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status from the IRS were under extreme scrutiny in 2013 when Barack Obama was president if words like ‘tea party’ or ‘patriots’ were included in documents before the IRS.
“We know what happened then and we don't have any particular reason to believe that they are back to targeting conservative religious organizations but they entirely could be so, hopefully, that's not the case,” Patterson said. “We have to go off their own words, which are pretty startling.”
The benefit of being deemed a 501(c)(3) organization by the IRS is being tax exempt.
“The big issue with the IRS’s decision is that it considers Bible teachings around public policy issues to be some form of political campaign intervention and that's just completely contrary to IRS regulations, which actually allow a 501(c)(3) organization to teach their beliefs as long as they don't intervene in political campaigns, and an example of that is endorsing particular candidates,” said Patterson.
Although Christians Engaged is bipartisan, the organization’s president Bunni Pounds did run for political office as a Republican.
“On the other side of the spectrum, I believe the former first lady, Michelle Obama, organized a nonprofit that does similar civic engagement work from her and their perspective so having a political background does not disqualify anyone from running a nonprofit,” Patterson said.
The precedent that the determination sets, according to Patterson, is that Bible teachings are Republican-affiliated.
“The IRS opinion is not going to bind a court but ultimately the IRS is the agency that all these applications are going through and it takes time for organizations to have any recourse,” Patterson added.
Christians Engaged, Patterson said, has been waiting for a decision since 2019.
“We filed an appeal of this May 18 decision last week to the IRS’s independent appeals office and we'll be working through the IRS’s administrative appeals process over the next few months,” she said. “They could reverse the decision or they could affirm it and if they affirm it, then federal court is the next step.”