Although America's highest courts have repeatedly confirmed the First Amendment right of "sidewalk counseling" at abortion clinics, the anti-life Internal Revenue Service denied pro-life organizations the same timely tax-exempt status given to liberal groups who perform anti-Christian brow-beating.
For background, read IRS Gave Homosexualists Private Info on Enemy Christians
And also read Some Pastors Continue Efforts to be Freed of IRS Muzzle
-- From "IRS Agent: Keep Faith to Yourself" by Todd Starnes, Foxnews.com 6/10/13
An Internal Revenue Service agent was recorded on audiotape telling a pro-life organization that they had to remain neutral on the issue of abortion and lectured the group’s president about forcing its religious beliefs on others.
In a May 2011 letter to the pro-life group, [IRS agent Sherry] Wan took issue with their prayer and evangelism efforts.
“It appears that some of your activities, conducted or plan to conduct, may be neither educational nor charitable in nature no matter how sincere of your religious belief or how important of your viewpoint,” Wan wrote.
[The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorney Erik Stanley said,] “What the IRS is doing here is unconstitutional – attempting to tell an organization that it could not advocate its viewpoint and still be considered educational and gain a tax exemption.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Excerpts from "Transcript of recording of phone call placed by IRS agent Sherry Wan to Pro-Life Revolution President Ania Joseph - March 8, 2012" posted by ADF:
IRS - . . . you have the religious freedom; the freedom of speech. And other people also have the civil rights; human rights. You cannot, you know, use your religious belief to tell other people you don’t have a belief, so I don’t believe you need the right to do this, start confrontation, protesting, uh, prot, uh, protest. [unintelligible] You don’t apply for tax exemption.
Citizen - My religion says that, you know, we have to reach out to women who are hurting, who are considering killing their own babies.
IRS - You reach out to woman, you can’t do that. You can, you know, to educate the woman, to do, you know, you don’t do that. However, you can’t just like say, you know, the [unintelligible] woman, you fear the woman. You have to get the woman the opportunity to listen to you. You cannot force your religion or force your beliefs on somebody else.
IRS - . . . when you, you know, go to, you know, the abortion clinic, and you found them [unintelligible], we don’t want, you know, to come against them. You can’t take all kinds of confrontation activities and also put something on a web site and ask people to take action against the abortion clinic. That’s not, that’s not really educational.
Citizen - Actually, actually, a peaceful prayer vigil is not...
IRS - . . . you have to know your boundaries. You have to know your limits. . . .
Citizen - Yeah, I’m going to have to consult somebody because you know I understand your point, but I also understand as a ministry we have certain rights as well and I want to consult somebody and just take it from there and to get more information and...
IRS - . . . after you, you talk to your lawyer, or talk to your legal consultant, and if you say, OK, here we understand the position, I feel that you know, you know, we understand your position, understand your point and that we wanted to, wanted to, you know, get this kicked down quickly and we are willing to take those, no longer can do the activities, [unintelligible]. OK?
IRS - Yeah. I apologize for this because it is a holiday and everything and I’m off and on another project, so I apologize for the delay, but I think we’re talking about more time to discuss and think about your application and want to give you more time to think about this, too. . . .
To read the complete telephone transcript, and hear the audio recording, CLICK HERE.
From "IRS to pro-life group: 'You cannot force your religion'" by Patrick Howley, Investigative Reporter, Daily Caller 6/10/12
The IRS sent Pro-Life Revolution a grammatically disastrous letter dated February 5, 2013 requesting additional information about its protesting activities.
“You called for faithful Christians to praying and counseling in front of the abortion referring clinic, conducting activities in front of another entity, which take opposite positions, appears more like a type of protest, which interferes the normal operation of a business with an effect of humiliating the persons working or receives the service there,” according to the letter, which lists Sherry Wan as the IRS agent to contact.
The IRS denied tax-exempt status to the group Coalition for Life of Iowa and forced leaders of the group, in a June 2009 phone call, to promise that they do not organize protests outside of Planned Parenthood.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "IRS Agent Who Told Group to Keep Faith Private Opposed Pro-Life Position" by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com 6/11/13
Alliance Defending Freedom, a pro-life legal group, made the audio available today of IRS officials telling a group that provides support to women in abusive pregnancy situations to keep its faith to itself. . . .
In February of this year, the IRS requested additional information in another letter and attempted to apply a standard for tax exemption to Pro-Life Revolution that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held to be unconstitutional in 1980. Alliance Defending Freedom pointed this out in a letter responding to the IRS, which finally granted tax-exempt status to the organization in a letter received Thursday.
Now, the lead attorney in the case has given a new interview in which he explains the IRS agent in question was ideologically opposed to the pro-life group’s mission and that the targeting came a result of that rather than the agent’s not understanding laws or IRS rules related to nonprofits.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Proved: Tea Party Movement is Christian
