Please consider file a request with the IRS to take away the LDS Church’s tax-exempt status. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Download this pre-filled IRS complaint form, and add your personal information to it: http://tinyurl.com/irsfilled. If this URL is not working, download a blank IRS complaint form and fill it out. This form can be downloaded from: http://ftp.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f139
2. You will need to include documentation to show that the LDS Church has made lobbying for Proposition 8 a substantial part of its activities. Here are the documents you will need:
[UPDATE: You can download all of these as a single PDF file. Thank you, reader Jesus Christ.]
a. A copy of the letter from the LDS Church Presidency to LDS Bishops, which as read aloud in all California State LDS Churches. It instructs members to “do all you can to support [Proposition 8] by donating of your means and time.” Download and print the letter from here: http://wikileaks.org/leak/first-pre
b. A transcript of the confidential LDS Church satellite broadcast, which instructed members that they must support Proposition 8, set out a detailed “three-phase” Proposition 8 campaign plan, and which reiterated several lies about what would happen if Proposition 8 was not passed. Download and print the transcript here: https://secure.wikileaks.org/leak/l
c. A copy campaign planning document distributed by the church to LDS Church leaders. Download and print the document here: http://wikileaks.org/leak/lds-propo
d. A copy of this Daily Kos posting which includes scanned images that prove the LDS Church has been planning for the Proposition 8 campaign since at least 1997. Download and print the document here: http://documents.scribd.com/docs/27
e. Refer the IRS to this page, located on LDS.org, which includes links to various Proposition 8 campaign information, including a Proposition 8 propaganda video: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom
f. Include a copy of the ABC News Story about how the LDS Church threatened to excommunicate a member for speaking out against Proposition 8. A PDF copy of this story can be downloaded here: http://documents.scribd.com/docs/1b
g. A copy of the Salt Lake Tribune news story which states that the LDS Church donated $2,078.97 of church funds to the Proposition 8 campaign. Download ind print a PDF copy of this story here: http://documents.scribd.com/docs/if
3. Once you have filled out the IRS complaint form and prepared your supporting documentation, transmit your complaint and supporting documents to the IRS in one of the following ways:
a. Email: Prepare your documents as PDF’s or web links, and send your complaint form with supporting documentation to eoclass@irs.gov. If sending your complaint as an email, you can simply copy and paste section 2 of these instructions into an email and attach your complaint form as PDF.
b. Fax your documents to (214) 413-5415.
c. Mail your documents to:
IRS EO Classification
Mail Code 4910DAL
1100 Commerce Street
Dallas TX 75242-1198
4. Once you have submitted your complaint, please consider signing these petitions to remove the LDS Church’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status:
a. http://www.mormonsstoleourrights.co
b. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/re
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UPDATE: I just sent my complaint by email to the IRS. This was VERY EASY to do. I will post my the text of my letter below. Feel free to copy it:
Dear Sir or Madam,
I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has violated the rules for tax-exempt organizations by excessively lobbying for California Proposition 8, and for participating in the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign. I have attached a completed Form 13909.
I am providing documentation by linking to web sites and PDF documents. If necessary, I can provide this information in alternative formats.
Documentation:
a. A copy of the letter from the LDS Church Presidency to LDS Bishops, which was read aloud in all California State LDS Churches. It instructs members to "do all you can to support [Proposition 8] by donating of your means and time." The letter is available here: http://wikileaks.org/leak/first-presidency-letter-california.pdf/.
b. A transcript of the confidential LDS Church satellite broadcast, which instructed members that they must support Proposition 8, set out a detailed "three-phase" Proposition 8 campaign plan, and reiterated several lies about what would happen if Proposition 8 was not passed. The transcript is available here: https://secure.wikileaks.org/leak/lds-oct-8-prop-8-broadcast.pdf/. Audio of the broadcast is available upon request through the WikiLeaks web site.
c. A campaign planning document distributed by the LDS Church to Church leaders. The document is available here: http://wikileaks.org/leak/lds-proposition8-notes-2008.pdf/. The following WikiLeaks page explains the significance and veracity of the document: http://wikileaks.org/wiki/LDS_Church_Proposition_8_anti-gay_campaign_notes/.
d. A Daily Kos posting which includes scanned images of LDS Church documents that prove the LDS Church has been planning for the Proposition 8 campaign since at least 1997. PDF version here: http://documents.scribd.com/docs/27tmvasx7na3bksuq221.pdf. Original posting here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/3/15369/3779/711/651188.
e. This page, located on LDS.org, includes links to various Proposition 8 campaign information, including a Proposition 8 propaganda video: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/same-sex-marriage-and-proposition-8/. This page was accessible starting 16 October 2008.
f. This ABC News Story about how the LDS Church threatened to excommunicate a member for speaking out against Proposition 8. A PDF copy of this story can be downloaded here: http://documents.scribd.com/docs/1b2kmdia2iq15eeftc52.pdf. Original news story here: http://www.abc4.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=FEEE2BE8-BD9C-4314-88BF-E2E60AE2BCA4.
g. The Salt Lake Tribune news story which states that the LDS Church donated at least $2,078.97 of church funds to the Proposition 8 campaign. Download a PDF copy of this story here: http://documents.scribd.com/docs/ifeqw2picvburmas3jw.pdf. Original news story here: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10842051.
Thank you for your investigation of this matter. Please confirm reciept, if possible. Please contact me if any additional information is necessary.
Sincerely,
Jackson R. Howa-Morrow
[Contact information]
22 comments:
I am Mormon, and I advocate respect for homosexuals, as do many others of my faith. I mourn the hatred homosexuals face on a daily basis and pledge my efforts to eliminate wrongful hatred towards gays.
thetrying.wordpress.com
Sorry to rain on your parade, but you should read through IRS Tax Guide for Churches. The section on "Jeapordizing Tax-Exempt Status" states that while campaigning for or against candidates for public office is completely forbidden, churches can lobby for legislation as long as it does not form a "substantial part" of their overall activities.
The LDS Church is a huge organization involved in far too many activities to claim that their lobbying for Prop 8 was a "substantial part" of their activities in general, or even in the state of California.
Under Item 1, the IRS form at the URL you provided http://tinyurl.com/prefilled/ is buried in a Google Group that requires pre-authorized access. I have applied for group admission, but I don't know when I will be authorized. Is this PDF available publicly so that we can verify we are entering correct information on the IRS form? I plan to compile the completed IRS form and supporting documentation into one PDF that can be redistributed to the masses. I want to make sure everything is correct and consistent.
And, my Google name is rather tongue-in-cheek, dontcha think?
Your first link, to the pre-filled-out form, is only visible to members of the Google Group "OUTLAW - Lewis & Clark Law School group".
Could you post it elsewhere? If you don't have hosting space I'd be happy to do so myself.
Hi folks, I fixed the link to the prefilled PDF. If you're still having problems, let me know, Thanks!
P.S. In case you're not seeing it, the new link is http://tinyurl.com/irsfilled
civlib, what a great name for a fascist site.
-archer
For the record, archer, I think everyone should be allowed to speak out on political and moral issues, but it should be on the same terms as everyone else. If I have to pay taxes, they should have to pay taxes too, if they want the same rights as me.
I'm all for people exercising their rights to speak out on whichever side of this argument they want, but it sounds to me that the Mormon church violated no laws in what they did. The way I read it, the law allows churches to remain tax-exempt as long as they don't endorse a particular candidate. In particular, churches have always been free to weigh in on issues such as prop 8.
In the end, the people of California have voted (twice) and this should really be put to rest.
By the way, I noticed that you have not marked "Organization engaged in deceptive or improper fundraising practices". Since the LDS doesn't make its finances public, how are we to know whether the contributions designated for the poor (or some other concern) were not used toward the lobbying and political campaigns?
be careful what you wish for. less separation of church and state means religions become FAR more vociferous inther political actions. once the gloves of taxes is off, so is the congregations obligation to moderate their voices.
since too many people have decided that they are too stupid to run their lives, we have a huge government running issues they have no business in.
thus, if you use government to solve problem, more problems arise... seems to be the historical pattern.
it might not be a decision many like one bit, but perhaps revenge is not a good can to open...
my two cents, anyway
The second anonymous commenter's claims that the LDS' activities do not call its tax-exempt status into question. The commenter says that, compared to the bulk of its other activities, the LDS' involvement in Prop 8 is small.
I am not a lawyer, or even a law student, but that conclusion seems absurd. Anonymous is basically saying that the bigger the church, the less they need to obey the laws separating church and state. If the law were truly written like that, it would be a "cobweb", as in the famous phrase by Swift, catching the weak and letting the strong through.
I read that guidebook Anonymous linked to but to my non-lawyer eyes Anonymous is wrong. Many factors are considered in the "substantial part" test, but the size of the church is not listed. It seems to be more about substantial activity, period, rather what percentage it is of their budget.
I have gathered the IRS form you linked us to along with all the supporting documents into two PDFs that anyone can download, print, email or whateva.
The PDFs are being stored courtesy of the http://www.StateOfProtest.com/blog and the issue is being discussed on the ATT forum here: http://www.atheistthinktank.net/thinktank/index.php?topic=5741.msg117628#msg117628
Please let me know if you discover an error in what I have compiled.
Speaking of substantial effort, don't forget their Prop-8 broadcast. I've seen reports that the LDS church used an emergency-response call list inappropriately to announce, then their satellite TV systems to broadcast a meeting supporting their Prop 8 efforts.
Background: The LDS church has and uses satellite TV to distribute video feeds for conference and other talks and meetings. Around here (Idaho) each stake has the needed receiver and big screen TV to do this.
They also have a database of who-can-do-what emergency responder information collected by each ward.
The LDS church used these in tandem to announce, then broadcast GOTV efforts in California, according to a diarist on DailyKos. Yeah, ain't the best in terms of vetted/verified news sources, but since diarist was focussed on whether to speak up at his ward's rebroadcast of this event, and since I've been a part of these two technologies mentioned, verification probably won't be that hard to dig up.
As for this being a slippery slope to mormons REALLY becoming activist if they lost tax-exempt status, that seems like concern trolling... unfettered religiosity is getting out of hand without counterpressure. Maybe a hefty fine and probationary period or some other penalty will get theocons out of government and out of dictating how we live our lives.
More documentation, from todays SF Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/10/MN4E141B3P.DTL&type=politics
"We don't normally get involved in anything political," said Don Eaton, who directs public affairs for the church in most of the Bay Area. "However, on certain things that are considered moral issues, we do get involved."
An excellent letter found published at americablog.com. This would be an excellent addition to an IRS packet.
Chairman Ross Johnson
Fair Political Practices Commission
428 J Street, Suite 800
Sacramento, CA 95814
Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, Jr.
California Department of Justice
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
Attorney General Mark Shurtleff
Office of the Attorney General
Utah State Capitol Complex
350 North State Street Suite 230
SLC UT 84114-2320
Dear Chairman Johnson, Generals Brown & Shurtleff:
Today we filed a formal complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) aka the Mormon Church of Salt Lake City, Utah for not reporting various non monetary contributions to ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8, A Project of California Renewal I.D. # 1302592. The Mormon Church has been highly secretive about its massive involvement in the campaign, but we managed to piece together evidence of some of their more visible activities done directly to communicate with California voters, including:
Church organized phone banks from Utah and Idaho
Sending direct mail to voters
Transported people to California over several weekends
Used the LDS Press Office to send out multiple News Releases to promote their activities to nonmembers
Walked precincts
Ran a speakers bureau
Distributed thousands of lawn signs and other campaign material
Organized a "surge to election day"
Church leaders travel to California
Set up of very elaborate web sites
Produced at least 9 commercials and 4 other video broadcasts all in support of Prop 8
Conducted at least 2 satellite simulcasts over 5 Western states.
All of these unreported contributions by the Mormon Church were on top of its massive fund-raising effort; the largest ever undertaken on a social issue ballot initiative.
Under California Election Law organizations such as the Mormon Church are not required to report activities if they strictly constitute "member communication." We will explain why we feel that the activities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints went far beyond "member communication," and were instead specifically targeted at California’s 17 million voters. By not reporting any of these non monetary contributions, the Mormon Church violated the Political Reform Act.
The only mention of compliance was a news story stating that the Mormon Church reported a single non monetary contribution of $2078.00 for Church Elder L. Whitney Clayton’s travel expenses for one trip to California. Was there only one trip? Were no other Church officials traveling to California for such an important campaign?
The Mormon Church made the Yes on Prop 8 campaign a national priority beginning on June 20, 2008 when Church President David S. Monson sent his now famous letter to be read in every church building, where he said, "We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment (Prop 8) by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman." http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/california-and-same-sex-marriage This was their call to action, and was undoubtedly designed to get members to begin the outreach to nonmembers.
Two other organizations that were also involved in the Yes on Prop 8 campaign, reported substantial non monetary contributions. The National Organization for Marriage of Princeton, New Jersey reported 49 separate non monetary contributions between 02/01/08 and 4/16/08 totaling $210,634,75. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family of Colorado Springs, Colorado reported non monetary contributions between 12/7/07 and 10/15/08 of $83,790.00.
Phone Banks
On October 8, 2008 the Associated Press reported that "Mormons Recruit Out-of-State for Gay Marriage Ban. Mormons living outside California have been asked to volunteer for a telephone campaign to help pass a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage in the state."
The Mormon Church announced one week before the November 4, 2008 election that it was canceling its phone centers in Utah established to call California voters. Were these in operation before they were canceled? What were the costs of these phone centers? How many calls were made to California voters from these massive call centers?
News reports said that students at BYU – Idaho in Rexford, Idaho were using a call center in that town every Thursday evening to call voters in California. This type of interstate phone network requires a lot of setup, supervision, voter sheets, scripts, training and the price of the calls. Call centers are used to communicate with nonmembers. Phone centers in place to contact nonmembers would constitute a contribution. No contribution was reported.
Gary Lawrence – State LDS Grassroots Director
Veteran political operative Gary Lawrence http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/CompanyDetail.aspx?CompanyID=55969576&cs=QHDVgcoxQ was based in Orange County, California. His title was State LDS Grassroots Director. Lawrence’s mission was to direct all Mormon activities in California (attached). He had a web site set up expressly for this purpose: http://yesonprop8.blogspot.com/2008/08/gary-lawrence-grass-roots-coordinator.html
Gary Lawrence’s operation had a timeline beginning on August 16, 2008 though election day of 12 Saturday precinct walks. All walkers were to be Mormons leading up to the election day surge of 100,000 Mormon volunteers and they went door-to-door to canvass nonmember voters. Was the Church actively involved in this massive recruitment? Here is a copy of the Mormon Organizational memo: http://wikileaks.org/leak/lds-proposition8-notes-2008.pdf
This directive from Church Elders Ballard, Christopheron & Clayton detail Church plans for yard signs, schedule, volunteers, out of state calling teams, speakers bureau and voter registration. More internet communications are available on this site: http://www.p8california.com/Job.html Did the Church participate financially in this massive voter outreach? If so, all of these voter communication activities to nonmembers constitute a contribution. No contribution was reported.
Saturday Rallies
These took place throughout California on the 3 Saturdays prior to the election. Thousands of yellow T-shirt clad Yes on 8 supporters were lined up for miles with signs in targeted areas of the state yelling, chanting and screaming at passing motorists. There were reports that these demonstrators were mostly Mormons, and that many were bussed in from Utah and surrounding states. We have heard that some of the busses had out of state license plates. Who paid for the buses, travel costs, meals and other expenses of all the Mormon participants? No contributions were reported.
Satellite Broadcasts
It appears that the first satellite simulcast was on October 8, 2008 and was beamed to 5 Western states. Apostle Robert D. Hales led this broadcast on various aspects of the campaign, including how to deal with the issues and how to conduct yourself. http://www.meridianmagazine.com/churchupdate/081010prop8.html
Another satellite broadcast took place at a later date, and was led by Church Elders M. Russell Ballard, Quentin L. Cook and L. Whitney Clayton. It addressed the Church's doctrine of marriage and participation in the Protect Marriage Coalition. Then the Newsroom of the Mormon Church issued a Press Release (attached) about this broadcast making it available to California voters and anyone with internet access. This video was not password protected and was promoted by the Church and available to nonmembers. Here is the press release about it as well as other Mormon activities: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/same-sex-marriage-and-proposition-8 Satellite broadcasts to hundreds of locations are very expensive, and by making it available to nonmembers, it is a contribution. No contribution was reported.
Multimedia Program
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appeared to have done a tremendous amount of work in this area. A very slick web site (attached) http://www.preservingmarriage.org/ was developed specifically for the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. The title is "Preserving the Divine Institution of Marriage." This web site states that it is "An Official Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" c 2008 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
PreservingMarriage.com is primarily a showcase for 9 separate Yes on Prop 8 commercials that are very professionally produced. They feature mostly young people talking about why same-sex marriage is wrong. There is an email update request box, and another to send feedback. The viewer is encouraged to share this site and "spread the word." Site visits are not limited to just Mormons, and everyone is "invited to share these videos with others." There is even a very prominent "Vote Yes on Prop 8, Support Traditional Marriage" banner on the home page. Certainly this web site was put in place to reach California voters. It is on the internet, and therefore available to all.
This web page on PreservingMarriage.com has 13 very professionally made commercials and videos: http://www.preservingmarriage.org/videos.html .
All of these commercials as well as their web site were clearly designed to communicate with the public. No contribution was reported.
Church Denial
On November 9, 2008 Don Eaton a spokesman for the Mormon Church was quoted on ABC – KGO Television stating, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints put zero money in this (election)." When I personally spoke with him Monday, November 10, 2008 and asked him if the PreservingMarriage.com web site was sponsored by the Church, he quickly said that it was not, but was "a part of the campaign."
In 1998, the Mormon Church directly contributed $1.1 million to ban same-sex marriages in Alaska and Hawaii, and received widespread criticism for that. So this year in California it appears that the Mormon Church was trying to avoid any direct contributions to Yes on Prop 8, and instead raised millions from its member families. That is legal, but all the money spent to communicate with nonmembers must be reported if it exceed $100. Clearly the Mormon Church has vastly exceeded that threshold.
We ask that the Fair Political Practices Commission and the Attorneys General of California and Utah immediately begin a full and thorough investigation of all campaign related activities undertaken by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah to determine if there were any reporting violations.
Thank you very much for your prompt attention to this very important matter.
Sincerely,
Fred Karger
Founder / Campaign Manager
Californians Against Hate
http://californiansagainsthate.com/
619-592-2008
Holy SHIT!!! Are you fucking gay or what? BTW, how do the tops keep from getting shit on their cocks? This is far more IMPORTANT that Prop. 8.
You brought this on yourselves. If you had has some respect for folks who didn't want to see you parading around kissing and nearly fucking in the streets, you wouldn't have had the opposition you had. If you'd only had a little respect for those who don't agree with your lifestyle.
A Note to my Readers:
Some of these comments contain bad or redundant arguments, or contain offensive language. Although this blog is moderated, I have chosen to allow some of the comments to be posted for 2 reasons:
(1) I don't like to stifle anyone's expression of their views, although this has its limits.
(2) I allow some especially offensive comments to post in order to demonstrate the intolerance that I deal with on a nearly daily basis for merely existing.
To Mr Anonymous who thinks that I or others on this blog are gay ...
I am not gay, and it wouldn't matter if I were. I have a larger agenda than gay marriage. I actually have a goal to get the states out of the marriage business entirely. I don't think anyone should be married, but if we are going to codify marriage with laws that require a license from the state in order to have one, then it should be an equal opportunity law.
I firmly believe that all marriages should be civil unions that are simply recorded by the state, but not granted by the state. I believe that if you want to marry multiple people (ie Mormon), you should have the right to do so. Marriage is a simple, civil contract for personal service, like the one you have for the lawn guy to take care of your grass. The real difference in marriage is that it is the only contract for personal service that requires the authority of the government to enter it (with no real qualifications, mind you) and to exit it (a very costly process). Throughout our history, the government has acted as an interference to marriage and the government in no way stipulates what your marriage should otherwise be. It is a great legal charade.
Marriage should consist of a series of 5-year civil contracts between the individuals who wish to marry. The contracts not only specify the end date, but also stipulate the terms upon which each party ends the agreement if the agreement is not renewed for another 5 years (much like the emotionally popular renewal of wedding vows). Also, consider that marriage is the only state-granted contract for personal service that has no written details (a legal nightmare) and for which the rules can change over the years (by enactment of other laws or legal precedences).
Yes, I wish to see the government get out of granting marriage contracts. I want to see the government get into the business of merely recording the 5-year civil union contracts made amongst citizens.
Does that clear things up any for the homophobic readers?
Filling out my letter, the IRS form, and providing the supporting documents couldn't have been any *easier* for me. A million thanks goes out to you for posting that.
At our recent protest march here in Seattle, many had signs saying "Revoke the Mormons' Tax Exempt Status" or something akin to that. How do you suggest we get the word out to the public on how we can all join in on this campaign?
Californians Against Hate have received a reply to their official complaint:
California Fair Political Practices Commission to
Investigate Mormon Church Involvement in Prop 8
LOS ANGELES, CA – Fred Karger, Founder of Californians Against Hate received a letter today from the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) regarding the sworn complaint that he filed on November 13, 2008. The complaint requested the FPPC investigate the alleged lack of reporting of numerous non monetary contributions to ProtectMarriage.com / Yes on 8, A Project of California Renewal I.D. #1302592 by the Mormon Church. The letter from FPPC Executive Director, Roman Porter, dated November 21, 2008 was received by fax. Below is the text of the letter from Mr. Porter.
Fair Political Practices Commission
428 J Street, Suite 629, Sacramento, CA 95814-2329
(916)322-5660 Fax (916)322-0886
November 21, 2008
Fred Karger
1278 Glenneyre, #20
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Re; FPPC File No. 08/735; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka the Mormon Church of Salt Lake City, Utah
Dear Mr. Karger:
This letter is to notify you that the Enforcement Division of the Fair Political Practices Commission (the FPPC) will investigate the allegation(s), under the jurisdiction of the FPPC, of the sworn complaint you submitted in the above-referenced matter. You will next receive notification from us upon final disposition of the case. However, please be advised that at this time we have not made any determination about the validity of the allegation(s) you made or about the culpability, if any, of the person(s) you identify in your complaint.
Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention.
Sincerely,
Roman G. Porter
Executive Director
cc: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka the Mormon Church of Salt Lake City, Utah
"We are very pleased that the FPPC has agreed to launch an investigation based on our complaint," said Fred Karger. "My 4 page letter to Chairman Ross Johnson and California and Utah Attorneys General Edmund G. Brown, Jr. and Mark Shurtleff with all of the alleged unreported activities is available on our blog at: http://californiansagainsthate.blogspot.com/ We’re hopeful the Mormon Church will fully cooperate with the investigation, and that we will find out the full extent of their involvement in the Yes on 8 campaign."
-- end --
The New York Times published an editorial on 11/29/08 in which it agreed with Californians Against Hate that the LDS Church was dabbling in politics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/opinion/29sat2.html?_r=2&th&emc=th
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