One of the weaponizations of government under Joe Biden’s administration was to turn the Internal Revenue Service into a machine to attack Christian groups, according to a new Department of Justice report.
One instance? The IRS denied tax-exempt status to one Christian organization after wildly claiming that its Bible-based teachings were too close to Republican political views.
It is the Washington Examiner that investigated and reported on the sweeping new report from the DOJ.
It said, “According to the report, former Director Stephen A. Martin of Exempt Organizations, Rulings and Agreements told the organization that its ‘Bible teachings are typically affiliated with the [Republican] party and candidates,’ concluding that this ‘disqualifies you from exemption under IRC Section 501(c)(3).’”
The situation was among the “viewpoint-based discrimination” imposed by the Biden administration against religious groups, the report said.
Further, the IRS adopted and exhibited a pro-Democrat bias in its application of the Johnson Amendment, a provision that limits the political activity of tax-exempt groups, like churches.
What happened was that the IRS refused to enforce the rule in a viewpoint-manner, “appearing to investigate Christians whose religious values aligned with conservative political views, while appearing to ignore open endorsements of liberal candidates at other churches,” the DOJ found.
The DOJ said the discriminatory agenda reflected the apparent politicized beliefs in the IRS at the time that religious doctrine should be held to be a political activity when it intersected with disputed policy.
The Examiner said the just-released 566-page report was from the DOJ’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias.
It was President Donald Trump who ordered a multi-agency assessment on how the federal government sometimes turned into a weapon to be used against Christianity.
The report found under Biden, authorities “tolerated religious beliefs that were privately held.” But they “zealously pursued actions to limit Christians’ ability to act in accordance with their faith.”
This aligns with Barack Obama’s ideology to change the Constitution’s protection for “freedom of religion” to, as he described, a “freedom to worship,” which involved allowing beliefs to be expressed inside churches, but to be restricted elsewhere.
The DOJ also noted a “general reluctance to extend First Amendment rights to religious-based conduct” under Biden’s mandates for the often-injurious COVID-19 shots.
Legitimate requests for religious accommodations during that time frame, prompted by the use of abortion-related components in the creation of those shots, simply were “summarily denied,” the DOJ said.
The injuries from such a biased practice were harsh, including federal workers who were demoted, denied pay, lost promotions or security clearances or even physically banned from their own offices, the DOJ said.
Other schemes against Christians included a war on foster families who declined to subscribe to the LGBT ideologies Biden promoted, and excessive fines imposed under Biden on Christian universities.
That section cited a $37.7 million fine against Grand Canyon University and a $14.5 million fine against Liberty University, compared to nominal fines against schools that allowed huge sexual misconduct scandals to develop, involving Jerry Sanduskyi and Larry Nassar.
Further, there was the wild accusation from the FBI’s Richmond office that “radical traditionalist” Catholics were potential extremists or domestic terrorists, because of their religious views.
The Biden administration even denied permits for religious gatherings at federal sites, and museums run by the government told visitors to remove religious attire.
The Examiner explained, “Many of the incidents cited in the report were previously reported or litigated during Biden’s presidency. However, the task force frames its findings as a comprehensive review that consolidates those disputes into what it describes as a consistent pattern of bias across federal agencies.”
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