Tag Archives: irs

Inviting the Government to Direct the Church

Albert Mohler notes a USA Today opinion column recently calling on the US government to use the power of the purse to force nondiscrimination policies on houses of worship:

Asra Q. Nomani, a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal, argues that the Internal Revenue Service should move to deny tax-exempt status to any place of worship that holds to different roles for men and women. In “End Gender Apartheid in U.S. Mosques,” Nomani writes, “I’ve come to the difficult decision that women must use the legal system to restore rights in places of worship..”

As Mohler notes, Asra Nomani isn’t advocating for those in her Islamic faith to alter their practices; she’s calling for action by the US government.  He also highlighted a glaring absence in Nomani’s treatise:  Read more

Michael Weinstein Gets a Pay Raise, and Religious Freedom Suffers

In late 2009 this site noted the hypocrisy of Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation over its treatment of Chaplain (LtCol) Gary Hensley.  Weinstein’s researcher, Chris Rodda, said a sermon given by Hensley in a military chapel was “of course…permissible,” while at the same time the MRFF used video of the sermon as a fundraising prop in a list of “violations.”  As has been demonstrated here before, it wasn’t ironic Weinstein was raising money at the expense of the religious freedom he claims to defend.

That article noted Weinstein has reaped heavily from the “non-profit” he founded and runs, allowing him to take home a paycheck of more than $250,000 in 2008 — nearly half of everything his “foundation” received (while Rodda simultaneously begged for donations, claiming Weinstein didn’t “even pay himself a salary”).

Weinstein seemed to take umbrage at the publication of his public financial data and threatened to sue this site for defamation.  He apparently thought it was damaging to his reputation for people to know 46% of his “non-profit’s” funds went directly to him — a shocking number when compared to reputable non-profits as documented at Charity Navigator, for example.  The legal threat seemed to be a weak attempt at intimidation, as it was obvious Weinstein had no viable case and he never moved on the legal threat (though he did file a frivolous complaint with the military, and he has repeated the open-ended threat).  Of course, while he dispenses vitriol with ease, Weinstein apparently wilts in the face of criticism, as he has repeatedly issued legal threats against those who have the gall to point out his hypocrisy.

To the point, Weinstein’s own public documents showed his significant pay, the re-publication of which apparently disturbed him.

It seems Weinstein didn’t learn his lesson.

The very next year, Michael Weinstein, the sole-paid officer of his self-created Read more

Quaker Loses Challenge to Tax Support for Military

The government’s use of tax monies from its citizens is frequently an issue for debate, even on non-religious topics.  The discussion can become more significant when people question whether the government’s use of their money is “moral,” and if they should therefore not pay taxes.

In an interesting federal district court case, Moore-Backman v. United States, the complaint of Quaker Christopher Moore-Backman that his tax support of the military “burdens his religious exercise in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act” was dismissed.

As noted by Howard Friedman, the court’s conclusion was somewhat broadly stated:

The court concluded that there was no free exercise or RFRA violation because under relevant case law the Government is not required to conduct its own internal affairs in a way that comports with an individual’s religious beliefs.

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