When is politics not politics? When the Catholic Bishop of Maine is asking for money to help the Church wade into the political marriage equality battle.
For the second time this month, the Bishop of Maine, Richard J. Malone, addressed Sunday mass at many Catholic churches in Maine through a video-recorded speech, imploring parishioners to pray, to donate to Stand for Marriage Maine, to volunteer for them, and vote “yes” on November’s ballot Question 1, the referendum question that, if passed, would overturn a law passed by the state legislature earlier this year to permit same-gender marriage.
You’d think this kind of lobbying would be illegal for a religious organization – after all, they can’t take sides in an election, and have to limit their lobbying activity, so how is this different? In the eyes of the IRS, any organization classified as a “church” can engage in a limited amount of lobbying for or against a piece of legislation, but will only get in trouble if “a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation (commonly known as lobbying),” according to the IRS.
Too much lobbying, and the church could loose its 501(c)3 tax-exempt status. But what do you do with a mammoth organization like the Catholic Church, which runs a large social service network and otherwise does many things not relating to same-gender marriage, but which could mobilize an enormous amount of resources in the service of hate, but pass the “substantial part” test by dint of their sheer size?
A spokeswoman for the Diocese said she didn’t know how much had been raised by the Bishop’s appeal, because parishioners were asked to mail donations directly to Stand for Marriage Maine in donations passed out in the pews.
In other news, 80 pastors took part in the Alliance Defense Fund’s second annual “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” this past weekend. Pastors called on the IRS to end these same 501(c)3 restrictions on religious authorities’ ability to “speak about biblical truths,” as the ADF’s Erik Stanley put it, regarding candidates’ and elected officials’ positions.
(h/t Joe.My.God)
Photo: Wikipedia/User Circle4809
