This article answers that question with an enthusiastic "Yes." I'm not so sure I'm quick to agree with that. Many churches conduct educational and charitable functions that would easily qualify for tax-exempt status if conducted by secular organizations (and do, in fact so, qualify, with the help of lawyers such as myself). It would certainly be discriminatory to tax churches that engage in such activities.
On the other hand, the fact that an article like this can even be published with any degree of seriousness says quite a bit, sadly, about how polluted religion has become with politics--mostly (admittedly not exclusively) by the Religious Right. It is no less discriminatory to give churches a tax exemption even if they electioneer to the same degree that non-exempt organizations (like political parties) do.
This is why the IRS needs to be able to examine the activities of organizations with exemptions, whether they are churches or other types of non-profits, on a case-by-case basis to ensure that their political activities do not exceed what Federal law permits. And this is why it is not a "scandal" when they do so. The only related scandal occurs when politicians who benefit from the mixing of church and state prosecute the IRS for doing nothing more than its job.
Are you listening, Darrell Issa? Of course not. You belong to a party that long ago lost any capacity for listening. Are you listening, America? You should be.
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