The Internal Revenue Service isn't taking action against churches for political statements from the pulpit.
IRS official Russell Renwicks recently made a statement that the agency has not been auditing churches because it has no authority to do so since the necessary regulations have not been approved.
Attorney Erik Stanley of Alliance Defending Freedom tells OneNewsNow that stems from a federal court decision in 2009 that the regulations were unlawful.
"So for the IRS to complain now that because it doesn't have the authority to audit churches that churches are somehow getting away with election violations really should ring hollow to all of us, because it's the IRS's own fault that those regulations have not been approved," he points out. "They have been sitting on the IRS's desk for two and a half years now."
IRS's Renwicks also complained of being inundated with complaints about political involvement of churches.
"But I also question whether the IRS even has been inundated with complaints that are valid in any way," Stanley says. "There are people who complain to the IRS all the time about things that churches do, and the vast majority of the time the IRS never acts on those complaints because they're just junk complaints that don't really mean anything. So I don't really feel any sympathy for the IRS at this level."
Pastors have only two more Sundays to speak about political and social issues from a biblical perspective before the November 6 election.