Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00663)

At 01:46 AM 5/11/96 -0400, you wrote:
>Doss,
>That is all very true.  Of course, in the American Section we have such a
>divergence of views that for the society to become actively involved in
>politics would probably split it, but that doesn't preclude other things to
>make the world a little better for us having been in it.
>
>Chuck
>

Chuck:

Just a reminder from an old politician. For the T.S. to become involved
would not only split it, it would destroy it financially. It costs a
Non-Profit Corporation that status for it to become actively involved in
politics in any way. There are some kinds of non-profits that do not
preclude it, or groups like Green peace and the Sierra Club wouldn't exist,
but I would assume that the T.S. is either chartered as a philosophical or
Education non-profit (I doubt if it's chartered as a religion) and they can
have their status taken away for engagement in any political activity at
all. The Mainstream Churches currently involved in Anti-Abortion activity on
a political front are only "getting away with it" because of their immense
political clout and because the IRS has so far not dared or desired to
challenge them. This would not be true of the T.S. But when viewed from the
point of view of written law, the Roman Catholic church could and should
lose it's tax-free status because of it's current political activities.

alexis