Churches campaigning for Trump? Take away their tax-exempt status.

Non Paywalled Link: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/x2zrw

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
117 points

Remember, if you see or hear a church actively campaigning for any sort of politics you can report them and get their tax free status taken away. 👍

permalink
report
reply
-5 points

Has that ever happened?

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

So your answer is to do nothing and be apathetic?

permalink
report
parent
reply
-2 points

I’ve reported a church, with photo evidence from multiple angles. Literally nothing happened.

That law has never been enforced against a “legitimate” church.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-4 points
*

It’s more pointing out how the suggested action is bullshit. It’s like if you had a leaking roof and someone said to blow soap bubbles on it. And then when you point out that’s a nonsensical solution that has no chance of working, they reply “oH, so YoU juSt waNT to Do NotHinG anD bE apaThEtic?”

Pointing out that someones suggestion is a non-solution is not an endorsement of doing nothing. It’s pointing out that the suggestion is not helpful and distracts from actual solutions.

Pretending the IRS would actually go after a church is ignoring the reality of the situation. I don’t want suggestions that would only work in some deluded made up fantasy world.

permalink
report
parent
reply
28 points

That’s the brilliant thing about the making politics about cultural issues. Churches can campaign for culture shit all day long. They just can’t say “vote for _____.”

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points
*

Even when they do, and I have sent in photos of a local church with “Trump 2020” on their placard, nothing at all happens to them.

They aren’t even contacted as far as I can tell.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Maybe cc a news organization or three on the email to the IRS next time and they can do some follow-up reporting on it?

Failing that, there ought to be some way a lawsuit could get filed that could force the IRS to do their job, though that’d be an expensive and time consuming thing

permalink
report
parent
reply
42 points
*

But Trump has made clear he won’t punish churches that violate the Johnson amendment in 2024, even vowing on a Christian nationalist broadcast last May that he’ll abolish the prohibition if reelected.

But that’s exactly what they’re doing.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-6 points

you can report them and get their tax free status taken away

And remember, that report will go nowhere and you’ll accomplish nothing! The IRS has never gone after a church for this. Never. Reporting them is just as effective as quietly whispering “please tax them” into your pillow at night.

I wish people would recognize the failures in our system and stop suggesting others do shit that doesn’t actually work.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Then what do you suggest? You obviously have better ideas? Or do you prefer to just bitch about things and not try to make a change?

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points
*

I also wish people would stop saying there’s no hope so do nothing.

No, record them and send it to the IRS. If nothing happens then fine. Nothing was lost. Along with that work towards change. Telling people the system is broken so do nothing is not going to get you the change you want.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-3 points

Lol that’ll be the day. Has that ever happened? Ever?

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

I mean, it’s supposed to work that way but that’s extremely rare.

permalink
report
parent
reply
40 points

If enough get reported, especially since now it’s been vocalized and reported. They’re going to be forced to do something about it. I acknowledge it is wishful thinking, though, but don’t give up. Report these fucks either way.

permalink
report
parent
reply
24 points

Doing something about it has a non-zero chance of success.

Doing nothing about it has a guaranteed chance of failure.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-8 points
*

Nothing at all will happen. I doubt you can find a single “legitimate” (with a real congregation & actual employees) church that has had their tax free status challenged, let alone removed in the last 30 years.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Record it happening so you have evidence to back it up. Get it onto social media so everyone can help report it, too!

permalink
report
parent
reply
16 points

Can I report a church I don’t attend, just so they become paranoid about who snitched?

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Maybe talk to the local news about it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

I didn’t know that was a thing that could happen

I’ve got to do some research because my grandparents church has been doing this since Bush Sr.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Not a single church ever has had their tax status taken away for politics. It doesn’t happen

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

It happened in 92, but that’s the only publicly known instance.

permalink
report
parent
reply

politics

!politics@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
  2. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  3. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  4. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
  5. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  6. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That’s all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

Community stats

  • 13K

    Monthly active users

  • 14K

    Posts

  • 415K

    Comments