Senate Finance Committee Sends Follow-Up Letter to Mega-Churches

On March 11, 2008, the Senate Finance Committee sent out follow-up letters to four megachurches.  The letters once again request financial data.  Various news reports suggest that the second batch of letters is an indication that the Finance Committee may soon rachet up the pressure by issuing subpoenas.  For previous coverage of this issue see this report.  One observer, quoted in the news reported linked to above, suggested that Senate Finance Committee is wasting its time and that donors should take more responsibility for the lifestyles of a visible minority of church leaders: 

Bill Keller, founder of liveprayer.com, an interactive Christian Web site, said . . . it’s incumbent upon all nonprofit agencies – religious ones as well – to be transparent about their finances, and for donors to take more responsibility. “There’s only a small fraction of ministers out there who own private jets and drive Bentleys,” he said. “But this investigation is creating a public mistrust of all of us.” He conceded there is “absolutely abuse of funds” going on among some ministries, but it’s an IRS issue, and not one that Grassley can do anything about unless he intends to change the law. “If people want to buy into this Lotto mentality in hopes of hitting the big religious jackpot, and giving blindly to someone who is a self-appointed messiah, then have at it,” he said. “You can’t legislate stupidity.”

dkj