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OPINIONS
Mark Caserta: Senator wrong to target evangelicals' spending
On Nov. 6, 2007, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, targeted six television ministries for financial investigation: Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Paula White, Eddie Long, Joyce Meyer and Creflo Dollar. Letters sent to these ministries requested confidential information to determine if any of the evangelists made any personal profit from financial donations and set a Dec. 6, 2007, deadline.
Sen. Grassley has done some superb work from his post in the past, but his motivation for this move is very questionable.
The church and all religious institutions have a universally recognized fundamental constitutional right for the government not to unnecessarily infringe upon their religious liberties. I firmly agree that 501(c)(3) organizations should have government accountability and oversight to ensure compliance. Section 7611 of the IRS Tax Code provides authorization for the government to access the financial information requested by Sen. Grassley and affords the church the protections from disclosure provided in the federal tax laws.
Sen. Grassley's request outside of this IRS code particularly targets these six churches for public scrutiny. In a statement to CBS News, Creflo Dollar called his ministry an "open book" and said he would comply with any "valid request" from Grassley, but he noted the inquiry raised questions that could "affect the privacy of every community church in America."
But the Senator didn't choose just any "community church in America." In fact, he didn't even choose churches that represent a broad spectrum of faiths.
What was Sen. Grassley's motivation for letters to be sent to these six churches?
Anyone who recognizes the names of the evangelists targeted understands they are all of the Pentecostal faith and teach the "prosperity" message that says that God wishes for his children to be spiritually, physically and financially blessed in all areas of their lives.
The devil's worst enemy is a Bible-believing Christian who has enough money to do what God has called him or her to do. What impact would people like Larry Flynt and Hugh Hefner have on America without money? How effective would MoveOn.org (another tax-exempt organization) be without donations from their supporters?
According to CBS News, the letters sent were the culmination of a long investigation by Ole Anthony, president of the Trinity Foundation, a religious media watchdog. "What we hope is that this will lead to reform in religious nonprofits," said Anthony, who is no friend of the televangelist.
The mission statement on Trinity's Web site states: "What television has exposed at the root of our society, and especially in the American church, is paganism -- personified in the televangelists."
A second letter of request was sent by the Senate finance committee on March 11. In the body of the letter, the committee clearly calls its request "not an enforcement action, which would properly belong to the IRS," but vowed to work toward protecting the confidentiality of the records.
Confidentiality and access to the records has already been provided by the IRS code, and Sen. Grassley should understand this circumvention sets a dangerous precedent for the future.
Mark Caserta travels the country as a business consultant. He is a native West Virginian and resides in Cabell County. He is a regular contributor to The Herald- Dispatch editorial page.
