Anew report released Thursday by the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias reveals what investigators describe as a “stark contrast” and a systemic double standard in how the Biden Internal Revenue Service policed American churches.
“The Biden IRS … [opened] multiple investigations into Christian churches focused on the content of their sermons. The IRS asked these churches for detailed information about their operations, not just about the alleged violations,” the task force wrote.
“But during the same time, when other houses of worship gave sermons that reflected different scriptural interpretations on culture war issues, or prayed for Democrat candidates, the Biden IRS appeared to take no action,” the group added.
The task force, which was established by President Donald Trump in an executive order last year, reviewed internal administration discussions, case files and prosecutorial decisions from the Biden administration across 17 federal agencies.
Beyond the IRS’s apparent targeting of conservative Christian churches, the task force concluded that the Biden administration’s prosecution strategy, internal policies and practices demonstrated an overall anti-Christian bias that permeated throughout the federal government during that period.
“No American should live in fear that the federal government will punish them for their faith,” said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who chaired the task force. “As our report lays out, the Biden Administration’s actions devastated the lives of many Christian Americans. That devastation ended with President Trump.”
The task force determined that the Biden administration used the Johnson Amendment – a 1954 provision added to the tax code which prohibits 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates – to probe churches that hold traditional Christian teachings, arguing those positions amounted to political support for Republican candidates.
Though the amendment, in theory, limits what pastors whose churches have 501(c)3 nonprofit status can say in evaluating candidates running for political office, it has only been “sporadically enforced,” according to the Justice Department.
Hellbound and Down 