Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 18, 1995 TAG: 9504180136
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The IRS action against the Church at Pierce Creek in Vestal, N.Y., marked the first time the revenue service has revoked a church's tax exemption because of its political activities, the plaintiffs say.
Jay Sekulow, attorney for Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice, called the IRS ruling ``the most obnoxious form of censorship.''
``The federal government, through the IRS, [is] telling a church and pastor what it can and cannot say,'' Sekulow said.
The suit filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia contends that the IRS ruling violated the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed by President Clinton in 1993.
``Christians Beware'' was the title of the ad that ran in USA Today and The Washington Times on Oct. 30, 1992, a week before the presidential election. The church said Clinton supported abortion, distribution of condoms in public schools and homosexuality.
``Do we really want as president ... a man of this character who supports this type of behavior?'' the ad asked.
Marcus Owens, director of the IRS division on tax-exempt organizations, said federal regulations prevented him from commenting on the April 10 ruling that contributions to the church would no longer be tax-deductible.
He said it was unusual for a church to lose its tax exemption for involvement in a political campaign, but he could not confirm whether the Pierce Creek case was a first.
On average, the IRS revokes the tax exemptions of 20 to 30 charities a year, Owens said.
The Church at Pierce Creek is a nondenominational Christian church. Robertson, a religious broadcaster, ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988.
Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which lodged a complaint with the IRS several days after the ads ran, said the case ``was not a matter of free speech.''
``This is a clear violation of the tax code which specifically prohibits the endorsement by churches or other tax groups of any political candidates,'' Lynn said.
The lawsuit, which refers to the ads as ``open letters,'' names IRS commissioner Margaret Richardson as the defendant. It seeks both a declaration that the IRS ruling was illegal and an injunction prohibiting the agency from enforcing the ban on political campaigning by nonprofit groups ``in a manner ... incompatible with the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs.''
by CNB