Thursday, April 25, 2019

IRS Recognizes Satanic Temple As A "Church"

The Satanic Temple announced yesterday that the Internal Revenue Service has recognized the organization as a "church" for federal income tax purposes. It says that among other things this will assure its standing in court to challenge religious discrimination and will allow it to apply for faith based government grants.  Rolling Stone reports on this, adding:
Although the Satanic Temple had previously rejected pursuing tax-exempt status, church president Lucien Greaves reversed this stance in 2017 after President Trump signed a “religious freedom” executive order. “As ‘the religious’ are increasingly gaining ground as a privileged class, we must ensure that this privilege is available to all, and that superstition doesn’t gain exclusive rights over non-theistic religions or non-belief,” Greaves wrote in the Satanic Temple newsletter....