Go Tell It [to the IRS]

This chapter illustrates the way in which tax law has become one of the primary arenas in which public fights about the place of religion in the marketplace are fought out. Under American law, churches are granted the economic benefit of tax exemption, but they or their affiliates often engage in market activity. This chapter shows how this situation has repeatedly created conflicts in which Americans have used tax law to express their unease with religion. Ironically, this has made the IRS responsible for defining the line between religious exercise and suspect religious commerce. According to the chapter, the IRS has generally shied away from picking fights with churches over their business activities, but tax law continues to play host to expressive suits by those who wish to use the law as a way of forcing churches to conform to evolving and competing moralities.