Tag: Current Events

This IRS Rule Could Lead to Churches Handing Over SSNs of Donors

Earlier this week Family Research Council sent out an alert about a proposed IRS rule change that could eventually require churches and other 501(c)(3) nonprofits–including groups like FRC, Family Council, and others–to give the IRS the Social Security numbers of their donors.

FRC writes,

“Under this ‘optional’ new system, the agency is suggesting that 501(c)(3) organizations (like FRC) consider doing away with their written acknowledgements of gifts over $250 and consider sending all of their donors’ personal information to the agency instead. Specifically, the IRS is interested in Social Security numbers, which the agency insists would make it easier for givers. Instead of processing lots of paperwork, officials are cheering the idea as a way to cut down on paperwork and streamline the filing for both sides. Google ‘Lois Lerner’ if you think this is a good idea.”

The proposed IRS rule change was quietly rolled out a few weeks ago. The proposal states,

“Accordingly, the proposed regulations require that donees who opt to use donee reporting must report . . . the donor’s name, address, and taxpayer identification number. The donor’s taxpayer identification number is necessary in order to properly associate the donation information with the correct donor. Unlike a CWA, which is not sent to the IRS, the donee reporting information return will be sent to the IRS, which must have a means to store, maintain, and readily retrieve the return information for a specific taxpayer if and when substantiation is required in the course of an examination.” (Emphasis Added)

So what is a taxpayer identification number, and why is it such a big deal to ask nonprofits to give the IRS that information?

The IRS website lists multiple types of taxpayer identification numbers; however, for the average American, “taxpayer identification number” means “Social Security number.” Considering Social Security numbers appear on every tax return sent to the IRS, it’s easy to see why many Americans would not be bothered by the idea of Social Security numbers appearing on filings from nonprofits as well.

The problem is this rule change could eventually require churches and other nonprofits to collect Social Security numbers from all donors. That means church offices, for example, would be responsible for securing and maintaining Social Security numbers of church members. That’s going to make churches and other nonprofits targets for identity thieves and other criminals.

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Living in a Culture of “Prayer Shaming”

Recently we shared a commentary from the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview regarding keeping a Christian perspective in the aftermath of a shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood. Today we want to share another commentary of theirs–this time regarding the “prayer shaming” we have seen in the wake of the San Bernardino attack.

John Stonestreet writes of the new, anti-prayer approach to life’s problems,

The epitome of ‘prayer shaming’ was the front page of the New York Daily News on Thursday, which read ‘God Isn’t Fixing This,’ and called talk of prayer ‘meaningless platitudes.’ As Rod Dreher rightly commented, these kind of statements ‘reveal a total lack of understanding of what religious people believe, and why.’ . . . .

In this worldview, the world and all its complexities can be reduced to mathematical models, and controlled by our best ideas and efforts, and the problems can be, if not eliminated, at least ameliorated.

But it’s a worldview that consistently fails.

Of course its worth noting that during the San Bernardino attack itself, victims texted loved ones at home, asking for prayer and some reported praying with each other as the shooting unfolded. If the victims of the attack are asking for prayer, then prayer seems like an entirely appropriate response.

You can read Stonestreet’s entire commentary here, or listen to it below.

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/2015/120715_BP.mp3|titles=Prayer Shaming and San Bernardino]

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Urge AR Congressional Delegation to Recognize Christians as Genocide Victims

According to reports by an investigative journalist at Yahoo News and by Nina Shea at National Review Online, the Obama Administration may move in the next few weeks to designate ISIS’s violence against Yazidis and others in Iraq as genocide; the genocide designation, however, will not be applied to Christians even though they have faced equal violence and persecution at the hands of ISIS.

Shea writes,

“Yazidis, according to the story by investigative reporter Michael Isikoff, are going to be officially recognized as genocide victims, and rightly so. Yet Christians, who are also among the most vulnerable religious minority groups that have been deliberately and mercilessly targeted for eradication by ISIS, are not. This is not an academic matter. A genocide designation would have significant policy implications for American efforts to restore property and lands taken from the minority groups and for offers of aid, asylum, and other protections to such victims. Worse, it would mean that, under the Genocide Convention, the United States and other governments would not be bound to act to suppress or even prevent the genocide of these Christians.”

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum writes that more than 800,000 people in Iraq’s Nineveh province were forced from their homes by ISIS last year; ISIS militants “kidnapped thousands, and killed hundreds, likely thousands, of people. In less than three months [ISIS] decimated millenia-old communities…Now almost no members of the minority groups [ISIS] attacked live in Nineveh province.”

This is significant, because the plains of Nineveh were once home to Iraqi Christians; in fact, Nineveh held one of the oldest Christian communities on earth. ISIS is systematically executing Christians it finds in Iraq and Syria. If that isn’t genocide, I do not know what is.

Americans continue to disagree about whether or not foreign refugees should enter the U.S., but let’s not overlook the obvious by failing to call the violence these refugees face what it is: Genocide. I think we can all agree the U.S. government ought to be honest with itself and with other nations about what ISIS is doing.

Below is information you can use to contact Arkansas’ two U.S. Senators and Arkansas’ Congressional delegates. Please send them a message politely asking them to ensure the federal government designates all ethnic and religious groups who are victims of ISIS violence as victims of genocide–including Christians.

U.S. Senator John Boozman

Little Rock Office:
1401 W. Capitol Ave., Plaza F
Little Rock, AR 72201
Phone: (501) 372-7153
Fax: (501) 372-7163

D.C. Office:
141 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4843
Fax: (202) 228-1371

Click Here to Email U.S. Senator Boozman

 

U.S. Senator Tom Cotton

Little Rock Office:
11809 Hinson Road
Suite 100
Little Rock, AR 72212

Mailing Address:
PO Box 25216
Little Rock, AR 72221
Phone: (501) 223-9081
Fax: (501) 223-9105

D.C. Office:
124 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2353

Click Here to Email U.S. Senator Cotton

U.S. Congressman Rick Crawford (AR District 1)

Jonesboro Office:
2400 Highland Drive, Suite 300
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Phone: (870) 203-0540
Fax: (870) 203-0542

D.C. Office:
1711 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4076
Fax: (202) 225-5602

Click Here to Email Congressman Crawford

 

 

U.S. Congressman French Hill (AR District 2)

Little Rock Office:
1501 N. University Ave.
Suite 150
Little Rock, AR 72207
Phone: (501) 324-5941
Fax: (501) 324-6029

D.C. Office:
1229 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2506
Fax: (202) 225-5903

Click Here to Email U.S. Congressman Hill

 

 

U.S. Congressman Steve Womack (AR District 3)

Rogers Office:
3333 Pinnacle Hills, Suite 120
Rogers, Arkansas 72758
Phone: (479) 464-0446
Fax: (479) 464-0063

D.C. Office:
1119 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4301
Fax: (202) 225-5713

Click Here to Email U.S. Congressman Womack

 

 

U.S. Congressman Bruce Westerman (AR District 4)

Hot Springs Office:
101 Reserve St.
Suite 200
Hot Springs, AR 71901
Phone: (501) 609-9796
Fax: (501) 609-9887

D.C. Office:
130 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3772
Fax: (202) 225-1314

Click Here to Email U.S. Congressman Westerman

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