Posted by Donna [Donna] on April 01, 1999 at 05:39:01 {feW1wc1uNQ/CPYT8orz2KQAv4A0rI2}:
Maybe the WTS had better be careful with their newspaper ads in light of what happened to one church:
C U R R E N T N E W S S U M M A R Y
by the Editors at ReligionToday.com
March 31, 1999
The Internal
Revenue Service was correct to strip tax-exempt
status from a New York church, a federal judge ruled March 30.
U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said the IRS acted lawfully
when it removed tax breaks from the Church at Pierce
Creek (see
link #1 below), in Binghamton. He rejected the church�s charge
that the IRS violated its religious freedoms and engaged in
selective prosecution.
...During the 1992 presidential campaign, Church at Pierce Creek,
a
nondenominational congregation, placed full-page newspaper ads
that said candidate Bill Clinton "is promoting policies that are
in rebellion to God's laws." The ads warned Christians "not put
the economy ahead of the Ten
Commandments."
...The IRS� two-year investigation concluded the church had
violated the federal tax code. It prohibits churches that claim
exemption from taxation from taking sides in election campaigns.
The IRS ruled that the
church no longer was entitled to the
exemption, and revoked its tax-exempt status in 1995.