IRS Ends Audit of Minnesota Church in Case About Sermons
Wednesday, July 29, 2009Walking in Wisdom (Blog): "The Internal Revenue Service has told a Minnesota church under examination for the content of the pastor’s sermons that the government is no longer pursuing the audit because of a 'procedural issue' involving the tax agency’s initial inquiry into the church.
But in a letter to the Warroad Community Church, in Warroad, Minn., the IRS said that it “may commence a future inquiry” into the church after the agency resolves the procedural matter, which the government did not explain in detail.
Gus Booth, pastor of the church, was one of many ministers who last year preached sermons intended to deliberately challenge the 1954 federal law prohibiting charitable organizations and churches from engaging in partisan political activity.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., nonprofit group that argues cases on behalf of Christian causes, promised free legal support under its 'Pulpit Initiative' to churches, including Warroad Community Church, that agreed to challenge the federal ban on political speech during sermons about the moral qualifications of candidates seeking political office that were given on Sunday, September 28, of last year."
