Booth publicized the sermon, providing copies to a local paper and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He also sent information about it to Americans United, essentially urging us to report him to the Internal Revenue Service, which we did.

Booth says he has a free-speech right to tell people which candidates to vote for or against. He's wrong, The free-speech argument has already been presented in federal court, where it failed.

On May 12, 2000, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled unanimously that the Internal Revenue Service acted properly when it revoked the tax-exempt status of the Church at Pierce Creek, a New York congregation that, just before the 1992 election, placed a full-page ad in USA Today advising people that voting for Bill Clinton was a sin.

In court, the church was defended by attorneys with TV preacher Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice. Robertson's legal team pretty much threw a kitchen sink full of arguments at the court, including a free-speech claim. All were rejected.

"Nor does the Church succeed in its claim that the IRS has violated its First Amendment free speech rights by engaging in viewpoint discrimination," observed the court. "The restrictions imposed by section 501(c)(3) are viewpoint neutral; they prohibit intervention in favor of all candidates for public office by all tax-exempt organizations, regardless of candidate, party, or viewpoint."

What the court is saying here is that all tax-exempt groups holding 501(c)(3) status must play by the same rules. Tax exemption is a benefit, and it comes with conditions. One of those conditions is a ban on partisan politicking. An organization that does not like this condition is free to give up tax exemption.

These rules are not designed to squelch free speech. Rather, they exist to protect the integrity of tax-exempt entities. A church, a charity or an educational nonprofit gets tax exemption. A partisan political operation does not. It's that simple.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a right-wing legal group founded by a collection of Religious Right honchos, is urging pastors to violate the IRS standard during sermons delivered on Sept. 28. It's easy for the ADF to advocate this since its own tax exemption won't be put at risk by this reckless action.

On its Web site, the IRS gives examples of what the heads of non-profits can and can't do in this area. Consider this one: "Chairman D is the chairman of the Board of Directors of M, a section 501(c)(3) organization that educates the public on conservation issues. During a regular meeting of M shortly before the election, Chairman D spoke on a number of issues, including the importance of voting in the upcoming election, and concluded by stating, `It is important that you all do your duty in the election and vote for Candidate W.' Because Chairman D's remarks indicating support for Candidate W were made during an official organization meeting, they constitute political campaign intervention by M."

Substitute Pastor Booth for "Chairman D" and Warroad Community Church for "M," and you see the problem.

I'm sure the ADF will plow full-steam ahead with its misguided plan this September. After all, it's good for fund-raising and gets the group's name in the papers. It's too bad that when the IRS decides to crack down, some polite ministers from Minnesota will be the ones to take the fall.

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