Politics by Religious Organizations

[LDS Jock]

I have just started reading more about this and there are things I don't understand. I posted the other day a Catholic Voters Guide I found online, which puzzled me since I didn't think it could be done. OK, so maybe that site isn't official, its run by an individual. But I remembered a few years back about this. I was active in the Mormon Church at the time.

"The primary group supporting the amendment, Save Traditional Marriage, received a $600,000 contribution from the Mormon Church in the closing weeks of the campaign to supplement the $850,000 they had already spent."

http://www.affirmation.org/news/1998_38.asp

I reviewed the IRS tax code (not fun) for 501(c)(3) organizations, which are tax exempt, and which I believe from reading is what churches fall under.

Two clips from that site include..

501(c)(3) Organizations
The most common types of 501(c)(3) organizations
are charitable, educational, and religious.

and

A 501(c)(3) organization:
must absolutely refrain from participating in the
political campaigns of candidates for local, state,
or federal office
must restrict its lobbying activities to an insubstantial
part of its total activities

info from here http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4220.pdf


I'm pretty new to this topic, and maybe I'm reading this all wrong, but it seems like churches are being politically active without losing their tax exempt status. Anyone know more about this?

I know also the Mormon church donated money to fight the campaign for gay rights in Alaska and California as well. This has to stop.

[MuseRider]

1. I just want to say

hello! I am inactive LDS too and it is mostly for these kinds of reasons. The political stuff and the intolerance from a religion I actually felt was VERY tolerant. My bishop was insistent to me that being gay was OK and not to be used as a reason to discriminate but then I would hear about this kind of stuff so I left. I do not know the answer to your question except that I think it is happening in a much more open way than in the past. Something will have to be done sometime but Bush* will not do it, that is certain.