WASHINGTON (RNS) A Minnesota church that was involved in a “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” initiative that challenged a ban on politicking from the pulpit is no longer under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service.
Warroad Community Church in Warroad, Minn., received a July 7 letter from the IRS saying the probe was closed due to a procedural matter. The letter added, however, that it “may commence a future inquiry.”
The church was one of 33 that participated in the challenge last September, and sent copies of sermons to the IRS, said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund.
His Arizona-based conservative Christian law firm hoped their actions — which included support or opposition of political candidates — would prompt IRS scrutiny and lead to a legal challenge of rules that date to 1954.
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed complaints with the IRS about Warroad Community Church and five others that took part in the initiative.
“None of those churches have heard from the IRS,” Stanley said of the five other congregations.
He said the ADF will sponsor another “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” on Sept. 27.
“We kind of view this as a long, sustained campaign,” said Stanley. “We’re in it for the long haul until the laws get clarified once and for all.”
Americans United spokesman Rob Boston said he thinks the issue was resolved in 2000, when a federals appeals court ruled that the IRS appropriately revoked the tax-exempt status of a Binghamton, N.Y., church after it bought ads in 1992 opposing then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton.
“Our view is that it’s already been litigated and their side lost,” he said of ADF and its supporters.
