This story in the Toronto Star this morning nearly made me choke on my raisin toast. Will these challenges apply to the fundamentalist preachers throughout the bible belt whose rants supported the Bush administration or the Catholic priests who denounced Kerry's pro-choice position? My opinion is that churches are treading a thin line when they preach politics from the pulpit. However the IRS must maintain the highest standards of impartiality in enforcing federal tax law. Partisan bias in enforcement is absolutely unacceptable.
"Shortly before the last U.S. election, a former rector at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif., gave a fiery anti-poverty and anti-war sermon. He did not endorse a presidential candidate, but he criticized President George Bush's policies in Iraq and at home.
Now the Internal Revenue Service has challenged the church's tax-exempt status. It's important to know just how the tax police have chosen this church, and other congregations, to pursue after an election that energized churchgoers of most denominations."
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