Subject: [FP] Why your church can't teach truth Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 18:54:27 -0500 From: "ScanThisNews" ====================================================================== SCAN THIS NEWS 8.19.2000 Why your church can't teach truth. The state views itself as god; it will allow no other god before it. If your church is a 501(c)(3) exempt organization, it cannot teach this truth. It can only teach (and preach) the state as god. Because of its desire to maintain its exempt status, your tax exempt church cannot tell you that the Bible instructs us NOT TO NUMBER OUR CHILDREN (see 1 Chronicles 21:7 and 2 Samuel 24:2), neither can it tell you what Jesus really taught concerning the payment of taxes (see Luke, 23:1-2 and Matt 17:24-26); to do so would violate its charter and the IRS's prohibitions. A tax exempt church can teach *only* state-approved doctrine. http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/bus_info/eo/eo-faqs.html#13 In order for a church to receive 501(c)(3) tax exempt status it must first be "created" by the state, then it must subject itself to federal regulations. In many cases, this means that the church will incorporate. An incorporated church is, by definition, a creation of the state. A church cannot serve two masters; it can only serve its creator. In IRS Publication 557, the agency ominously states on page 14 that the organization "will not be organized or operated for the benefit of ... the creator or the creator's family... ." In all cases, exempt churches must establish articles of organization in conformity IRS guidelines. The following statements are from the IRS instruction for application for tax exemption: "For the Internal Revenue Service (the IRS) to recognize an organization's exemption, the organization must be organized as a trust, a corporation, or an association." "For the IRS to recognize an organization's exemption, it must have an exempt purpose." [What You Need to Know if Your Organization Plans to Apply for Tax Exemption] http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/bus_info/eo/eo-appl.html The IRS publishes the full set of guidelines a church must comply with in order to receive 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/bus_info/eo/eo-recog.html One of the requirements is that every exempt organization must "obtain an employer identification number using Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number, (even if the organization does not have any employees)." It must also draft written articles of organization. The IRS states in Publication 557, pg. 15, that the articles of organization "may be its trust instrument, corporate charter, articles of association, or any other written instrument by which it is created." Publication 557 further states: "... the articles of organization must limit the organization's purposes to one or more of those described at the beginning of this chapter and must not expressly empower it to engage, other than as an insubstantial part of its activities, in activities that do not further one or more of those purposes. These conditions for exemption are referred to as the organizational test." The Publication goes on to say: "Section 501(c)(3) is the provision of law that grants exemption to the organizations described in this chapter. Therefore, the organizational test may be met if the purposes stated in the articles of organization are limited in some way by reference to section 501(c)(3)." The key requirement for acceptable "articles of organization" is that they sufficiently limit the organization's activities to only those explicitly approved under 501(c)(3). In order for a church to be approved as tax exempt, it must include in its articles of organization specific, self-limiting language. Should the church ever violate these self-imposed limitations, it will lose its status. Here is the required language as "suggested" by the IRS (pay particular attention to the Fifth clause): --- http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/bus_info/eo/corp501.html Suggested Language for Corporations and Associations from IRS Publication 557 Articles of Incorporation of ____ [church name here]. The undersigned, a majority of whom are citizens of the United States, desiring to form a Non-Profit Corporation under the Non-Profit Corporation Law of ___, do hereby certify: First: The name of the Corporation shall be ____. Second: The place in this state where the principal office of the Corporation is to be located is the City of _____, ____ County. Third: Said corporation is organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational, and scientific purposes, including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code. Fourth: The names and addresses of the persons who are the initial trustees of the corporation are as follows: Name _____ Address _______ Fifth: No part of the net earnings of the corporation shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to its members, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article Third hereof. No substantial part of the activities of the corporation shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the corporation shall not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. Notwithstanding any other provision of these articles, the corporation shall not carry on any other activities not permitted to be carried on (a) by a corporation exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or (b) by a corporation, contributions to which are deductible under section 170(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code. (If reference to federal law in articles of incorporation imposes a limitation that is invalid in your state, you may wish to substitute the following for the last sentence of the preceding paragraph: "Notwithstanding any other provision of these articles, this corporation shall not, except to an insubstantial degree, engage in any activities or exercise any powers that are not in furtherance of the purposes of this corporation.") ... In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names this ____ day of ____, 19__. --- To determine whether an organization meets the "religious purposes test" of section 501(c)(3), the IRS maintains two basic guidelines: 1) That the particular religious beliefs of the organization are truly and sincerely held, and 2) That the practices and rituals associated with the organization's religious belief or creed are not illegal or contrary to clearly defined public policy. Publication 557 states, "your group (or organization) may not qualify for treatment as an exempt religious organization ... if its actions ... are contrary to well established and clearly defined public policy." Religious organizations are not explicitly required to file an application for exemption (Form 1023). They are, however, required to comply with the 501(c)(3) limitations in order to enjoy the exemption. And, it is strongly suggested by they IRS that churches should apply for and receive a letter of exemption. Most churches comply fully, even to the extent of becoming corporations. Few churches advertise their corporate status by inclusion of the word "Incorporated" at the end of their church name -- but some actually do! You can search the IRS database of exempt organizations here: http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/search/eosearch.html A search on "First Baptist Church" for my hometown returned a list of "hits," along with the note: "Too many matches on 'church' (over 10,000), please be more specific." A tax exempt church can only teach state-approved religion. And the state does not approve of any religious doctrine which teaches that there is any god above it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Social security is the bane of individual liberty. - SAM ====================================================================== Don't believe anything you read on the Net unless: 1) you can confirm it with another source, and/or 2) it is consistent with what you already know to be true. ====================================================================== Reply to: ====================================================================== This is a copy of ScanThisNews, sent to contributors. For information on contributing, please visit our contributions web page: http://www.networkusa.org/fingerprint/page1b/fp-contributions.html To subscribe to the free ScanInReview abbreviated newsletter, send a message to and type "subscribe scan" in the BODY. Or, to be removed type "unsubscribe scan" in the message. 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