(RNS) — A Virginia pastor who prayed that God would re-elect President Bush says the Internal Revenue Service threatened him with charges of improper “electioneering,” but the IRS maintains it has made no decision in the case.
The controversy erupted Oct. 29 on the eve of the presidential elections as Jerry Falwell and other conservatives urged churches to hold prayer vigils for “pro-life and pro-traditional family leaders.”
Attorneys for Patrick Mahoney, a Presbyterian pastor based in Fredericksburg, asked the IRS in September if he could pray for God to “grant President Bush four more years” without risking a church’s tax-exempt status. Mahoney planned to offer the prayer during a 16-city tour of churches in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
On Oct. 18, the IRS responded that politicking “on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office” is illegal for churches, including when “someone endorsing a candidate is invited to speak.”
Mahoney’s lawyers asked for more clarification — specifically, if Mahoney’s endorsement via prayer constituted political speech. Jim Henderson, Mahoney’s attorney at the American Center for Law and Justice, said the IRS’ Judith Kindell told him by phone that prayer was considered political speech if it was used to endorse a candidate.
On Friday, citing it could not comment on any “taxpayer information,” the IRS would not confirm or deny what Kindell told Henderson in that phone call.
“This is the first time in American history that the IRS and the federal government are mandating how churches should pray, and it’s clearly a crushing of the First Amendment and religious liberty,” Mahoney said.
As a result, Mahoney said he would not pray for Bush’s reelection at his last stop in Zanesville, Ohio. In 1992, Mahoney was involved in the landmark case of a New York church that lost its tax-exempt status after it urged voters not to elect Bill Clinton. “I didn’t want to see another church go through that,” he said.
The IRS, meanwhile, said it has made no formal ruling in the case, and refused to speculate on whether Mahoney’s prayer violated the ban against nonprofit politicking.
“The IRS has never issued a ruling telling people how to pray,” said IRS spokeswoman Nancy Mathis. “However, there are provisions in federal law that prohibit political activities by charitable groups, such as churches, if they want to maintain their tax-exempt status.”
Mathis said charges would need to be filed in order for the IRS to investigate and findings would be based on “specific facts and circumstances.”
Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., the chief sponsor of a bill to allow churches to endorse candidates, called the case “one more step by Big Brother to stifle the free speech of our religious leaders.”
A church-state watchdog group, meanwhile, called it much ado about nothing. “The bottom line is there is no IRS letter telling churches they cannot pray for Bush,” said Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “To be blunt, the whole story is a bald-faced lie.”