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Air Date: January 15 2014
Host: Jim Schneider
Guest: Mat Staver
Mat Staver is the Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. He is the Director of the Liberty Center for Law and Policy and Dean and Professor of Law at Liberty University School of Law.
Jim began this edition of Crosstalk looking for Mat’s views concerning the recent news that Oklahoma’s ban on so-called same-sex marriage was struck down by Federal Judge Terence Kern. Mat believes this is the result of last year’s decision where Justice Kennedy was the swing vote and authored the decision. In that decision he used the phrase ‘equal protection’ but didn’t use the equal protection analysis.
In their discussion of the main topic, it was noted that on Black Friday the IRS sent out proposed regulations that would increase their power over 501(c)(4) organizations. These are non profit organizations but contributions to them are not tax deductible.
Historically, c4’s can do more lobbying than c3’s and this is why the new regulations are so oppressive because they will not allow c4’s to use words like ‘oppose’, ‘vote’, ‘support’, ‘“defeat’, or ‘reject’. In addition, c4’s will not be able to mention the name of a candidate for office 30 days prior to a primary and 60 days prior to a general election. The regulations also prohibit c4’s from giving out objective voter guides, registering people to vote or encouraging people to go out and vote.
Once these regulations are approved and finalized, is it possible that they may apply to 501(c)(3) churches and church-based organizations as well? You be the judge when you review this vital edition of Crosstalk.
More Information
To sign a petition that goes to members of Congress, go to www.libertycounsel.com.
To file comments (by 2/27) regarding these proposed IRS regulations go to www.regulations.gov. In the supplied search box insert the following: irsreg. Follow this up with the code: 134417-13.
