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A Portsmouth activist is questioning the local school district’s decision to host a field trip with a group known for discriminating. John McDaid, who blogs about local issues here, and his wife plan to address the Portsmouth School Committee tonight about a Boy Scout field trip.
“The question we’re going to put to the School Committee and administration is not the Boy Scouts’ private membership restrictions, but rather the entanglement which ensues when a public institution expends public money for student participation in a program run by an organization which, as a matter of policy, excludes participation based on sexual orientation and religious belief,” he wrote on his blog. Read his post o find out how McDaid suggests the school committee remedy the issue.
The Freedom from Religion Center has said that the public sector should not work with Boy Scouts until it ends its policy and practice of discrimination. “At the same time it demands public privileges, support, and favors, BSA argues that it is a private group with the right to discriminate. If Boy Scouts of America insists on standing for bigotry, then it should stand alone–without the support of our public institutions.”
According to McDaid, there may be practical as well as ideological reasons for Portsmouth to distance itself from the local chapter. He wrote that adult leader allegedly said the local group can and will continue to discriminate against scouts.
“Our son, Jack, wanted to try Scouting, so we signed him up for Cub Scouts a few years ago,” McDaid wrote. “At the first large-scale event, held with children and parents at one of the campgrounds, while the kids were off at an activity, a scout leader explained this principle to the parents in no uncertain terms. ‘We don’t have to be tolerant,’ he said ‘and we have a Supreme Court decision to that effect.’ I can confirm that I am not the only Portsmouth parent who has a clear and vivid recollection of this event.”
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A tax-exempt religious organization is a legal entity or vehicle created and operated exclusively for religious purposes, no part of the net earnings of which insures to the benefit of any private individual, no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and which does not participate in or interfere in any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a right wing theocratic legal defense organization, objects to the prohibition on clerical electoral advocacy. They maintain that churches should still be immune to taxation, but should not have to sacrifice their First Amendment rights to free speech to do so. Each year the ADF organizes Pulpit Freedom Sunday, a date for clergy across the country to violate this prohibition and openly challenge the IRS on this issue. As part of this action ministers send videos of their open violation of the law to the IRS, hoping to provoke a court case that the ADF can use to have the law stricken down.
The IRS has only sporadically enforced the law, and there are very few cases of the IRS going after a mainline Christian church. In fact, there is only one example of such a church losing its tax exempt status: “The Church at Pierce Creek in Binghamton, N.Y., lost its tax-exempt status in 1995 after the IRS determined it had violated federal tax law by publishing a full-page ad in USA Today in late October of 1992 advising people that voting for presidential candidate Bill Clinton was a sin. The church sued in federal court to regain its tax-exempt status but lost in federal district court. A federal appellate court later upheld the ruling denying the church tax-exempt status.”
For the most part, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) has toed the line in this regard. The structure of the RCC is different from Protestant churches. Think of Protestant churches as a string of little franchises, with independent owners acting as they please within the confines of their conscience and faith. An IRS investigation and fine against one tiny church will not result in cases against other churches because there is no direct relation between them.
The RCC is different. The RCC maintains a top down pyramidal structure and all the churches and related property are financially connected. The priests are, in a sense, employees of the local bishops, who are in turn employees of the Pope, who acts as CEO. Were a case to be opened against a Catholic priest, and it was determined that the priest was following the edicts of his bishop, then other churches and other priests could be fairly investigated, and the entirety of the Catholic Church in the United States could possibly lose its tax free status.
As Steve Siebold wrote on the Huffington Post, “Imagine how much food that could buy to feed the hungry, or how it could help those less fortunate. This might be acceptable if the church was actually encouraging strategies to reduce human suffering, irresponsible behavior that harms others, ending violence in our neighborhoods and other critical issues. Churches do not serve the common good; they propagate ancient supernatural mythology that brainwashes people into believing the unbelievable and impedes social and scientific progress.”
With all this in mind it is difficult to know what exactly motivates Father Brian Sistare in Woonsocket. Certainly, as his Twitter feed suggests, Sistare is extremely conservative in his views. It is possible that the closer ties being formed by Evangelical and Roman Catholic churches over issues like LGBTQ and reproductive rights have allowed priests like Sistare to feel comfortable violating the prohibition on politicking from the pulpit.
Certainly the evidence of emails from Sistare threatening to influence upcoming elections is a troublesome thing. If his actual sermons make good on this threat, then the IRS should certainly investigate and remedy the situation.
Of course, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence could always start paying federal, state and local taxes, in which case no one could complain at all.
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Governor Chafee did the constitutionally correct thing and vetoed a bill that would have funneled state money to an anti-abortion Christian group under the auspices of a “Choose Life” license plate.
Here’s the text of Chafee’s veto message:
In accordance With the provisions of Section 14, Article IX of the Constitution of the State of Rhode Island and Section 43-1-4 of the Rhode Island General Laws, I transmit, with my disapproval, 2013 H 5053, Substitute A, “An Act Relating to Motor and Other Vehicles – Registration of Vehicles.”
This bill Would allow the Division of Motor Vehicles to offer specialty license plates imprinted with the words “Choose Life.” In addition to the regularly prescribed motor vehicle registration fee, “Choose Life” plates Would be subject to a $40.00 surcharge; $20.00 Would be allocated to the general fund and $20.00 would be distributed to Care-Net Rhode Island “to support the alternative choices of infant adoption and Rhode Island’s Safe Haven.”
The function of a license plate is to register and identify a motor vehicle. Rhode Island residents may choose to purchase specialty license plates that support politically neutral secular organizations such as the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, the Friends of the Plum Beach Lighthouse or the Red Sox Foundation. Conversely, Care-Net – Rhode Island is an affiliate of CareNet, a private organization originally founded as the Christian Action Council. On its website, CareNet states that its ultimate aim is to “to share the love and truth of Jesus Christ in Word and
The Framers of the United States and Rhode Island Constitutions constructed strong Walls of separation between church and state. This bill compels the state to collect and distribute funds to an organization that advocates a particular religious and political viewpoint. It is my belief that state participation in the transmission of funds to this organization Would violate the separation of church and state, one of the fundamental principles upon Which our state was founded.
For this reason, I disapprove of this legislation and respectfully urge your support of this Veto.
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