Provision to Allow Candidate Endorsements by Houses of Worship Stripped from Bill!
House Ways & Means Committee Rejects “Son of Jones” Measure by Unanimous Consent Denying Religious Right a Key Win in 2004
For the second Congress in a row, your efforts helped to defeat legislation that would have wreaked havoc on the integrity of our religious leaders, houses of worship and redefined religious liberty as we know it. Entitled “Safe Harbor for Churches” the bill would have encouraged willful ignorance of the law by houses of worship, amending the tax code to permit houses of worship to engage in partisan political campaigns while maintaining their status as tax-exempt organizations.
Buried on page 379 of a 398 page tax bill (H.R. 4520, American Jobs Creation Act of 2004), the Safe Harbor legislation would have allowed houses of worship to “accidentally” endorse political candidates up to three times in an election cycle without losing their coveted tax-exempt status. While the bill purported to draw a distinction between intentional and unintentional violations of political activity, it was silent on what constituted an "unintentional" violation, leaving religious leaders and institutions free to claim ignorance of the law as reasoning for an "unintentional" breach. Ironically, this provision was silently inserted into the tax bill by the House Republican Leadership just days after the Bush campaign was widely criticized for using churches in the battleground state of Pennsylvania to organize voters for their election activities.
The effort to remove this dangerous provision was a strong bipartisan one led by Reps. John Lewis (D-GA), Amo Houghton (R-NY) and Nancy Johnson (R-CT). We remain grateful to all of those Members of Congress who stood with us to bolster religious liberty and freedom for all people of faith and good will.
There is still a remote possibility that language similar to “Safe Harbor” could be inserted in the bill at a later point, or, that The Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act, sponsored by Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) could be brought to the floor. TIA will continue to monitor the legislatio n and keep you apprised of any further developments. Once again, thank you for your participation and for your steadfast dedication to One Nation – Many Faiths.
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