c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) As All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif., defends itself against the Internal Revenue Service and a charge of preaching politics from a tax-exempt pulpit, I have a suggestion:

Preach with power, and let go of tax breaks.

Which will benefit society more: powerful commentary on critical ethical and social issues, or preserving wealth?

I make the same suggestion to conservatives and liberals alike. If we believe what we say, threats to the coffers shouldn’t deter us.

All Saints’ duel with the IRS began just before Election Day 2004, when a former rector preached, in part, “when you go into the voting booth on Tuesday, take with you all that you know about Jesus, the peacemaker. Take all that Jesus means to you. Then vote your deepest values.”

Now the IRS is investigating whether that sermon violated IRS regulations concerning partisan activities by a tax-exempt organization. At stake is the church’s tax-exempt status, which enables donors to take a tax deduction on gifts to the church and exempts the church from certain local taxes.

To defend itself against scrutiny and criticism, any regime, conservative or liberal, will target its opponents’ vulnerability. For religious institutions, the greatest vulnerability is their unique tax status.

As I understand it, the original aim of conferring tax-exempt status on religious, educational and charitable institutions was to facilitate their beneficial contributions to the community. In recent years, however, both Republican and Democratic governments have used tax policies to coerce those institutions into following, or at least remaining silent on, government policies.

Tax-benefited institutions are vulnerable to such coercion because they believe that their economic viability depends on tax benefits. They fear that if tax breaks were withdrawn, their members wouldn’t give as readily and their property would become too costly.

Whether those pessimistic assumptions are true remains to be seen. It could be that members would gladly give a real tithe, not a discounted tax-break tithe. After all, biblical teachings about the tithe are based on gratitude and accountability, not on tax benefits. Generosity existed long before the tax code rewarded it.

Even if members gave less, can churches afford to lose their freedom to criticize government, to promote policies that they consider worthwhile, to engage in the political sphere as aggressively as any other institution? Would a church want to pull its punches in order to save its financial hide?

Can society afford to lose the prophetic and ethical voice of its faith communities?

Call it institutional heresy, but I wonder if it is time for faith communities to give up their tax benefits. Has the cost of compliance gotten too high? Congregations need to speak and serve boldly, not carefully. Prophetic witness isn’t a function of the tax code. If faith is to make a difference in the world, it cannot be limited to polite and ordinary offerings that don’t offend the powerful.

This isn’t just about preaching, for a congregation’s prophetic witness and ministries aren’t limited to pulpit time. The entire faith community has a duty to engage with the issues, to voice opinions, to value disagreement, to respect one another’s integrity and thoughtfulness, to seek consensus where it can be attained and to avoid paralysis when consensus is elusive.

Tax-exempt status has become a hiding place, enabling congregations to avoid difficult topics. Yes, members disagree strongly about certain issues. Why hide from that? We need to learn within the faith community how to deal with division on matters more significant than ordination policies.

Although All Saints’ current rector calls this an issue of “religious freedom,” I think he will find that religious freedom isn’t defined by the tax code, but by the Constitution and by the willingness of congregations to serve freely, even if it costs them money.

PH END RNS

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, consultant and leader of workshops. His book, “Just Wondering, Jesus: 100 Questions People Want to Ask,” was published by Morehouse Publishing. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. His Web site is http://www.onajourney.org.)

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