Several Republican Congress Members are campaigning against the Internal Revenue Service, urging them to reverse their decision to deny the Christians Engaged tax-exempt after the government agency said it was affiliated with the right-wing political party. The IRS in May denied the request of the Texas-based Christian nonprofit group to label itself as a charitable organization and benefit from tax-deductible contributions.
IRS exempt organizations director Stephen Martin responded to their request by denying it, arguing that "The Bible teachings are typically affiliated with the Republican Party and candidates. This disqualifies you from exemption under IRC Section 501(c)(3)," The Blaze reported.
As per Christian Engaged's website, the Texas Christian group "exists to awaken, motivate, educate, and empower ordinary believers in Jesus Christ to: pray for our nation and elected officials regularly, vote in every election to impact our culture, [and] engage our hearts in some form of political education or activism for the furtherance of our nation."
Martin wrote in a letter that Christians Engaged's involvement in promoting biblical teaching means it also engages in "prohibited political campaign intervention." The IRS director argued that the group "[operates] for a substantial non-exempt private purpose and for the private interests of the Republican Party." The Christian group filed an appeal on the IRS' decision on June 16.
Now, Republican leaders are demanding that the IRS must reverse the removal of the Christian group's tax-exemptions. According to the Christian Post, Texas Representative Chip Roy, a Republican, wrote to IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig, urging them to review their decision to strip the Christian group off its tax-exemptions.
"The IRS must objectively analyze applications for tax-exempt status and cannot allow political biases to creep into its decisions," Rep. Roy wrote. "We urge you to immediately review Christians Engaged's application for 501(c)(3) status personally, and terminate the IRS staff involved in the flawed and politically motivated reasoning behind the determination."
The letter was co-signed by Republican Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, as well as Republican Representatives Burgess Owens of Utah, Bob Good of Virginia, and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
Last Friday, Rep. Roy released a statement blasting IRS for its removal of the Christian group's tax-exemptions over its Bible teachings, saying that not only does this event expose the "corruption and liberal bias running rampant at the IRS," but is also an "overt attack on religious liberty by a tyrannical federal government."
According to CP, Christians Engaged is being represented by the conservative legal nonprofit First Liberty Institute, which often takes on cases on religious freedom. First Liberty Counsel Lea Patterson called the government body a "politicized IRS" that "violated its own regulations in denying tax-exempt status because Christians Engaged teaches biblical values."
Patterson pointed out the bias of the IRS, especially after the government body granted a tax exemption to former First Lady Michelle Obama and her activist group, When We All Vote.
But this is not the first time the IRS was involved in political controversy as in 2013, the government agency received major backlash after it admitted to having targeted tax-exemption applications from conservative groups that had the words "Tea Party" or "Patriot" during the 2012 presidential election era. Ex-director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Division Lois Lerner apologized for the discrimination and attacks on conservative groups.
