Wide Coalition Backs Catholics Against Suit to Lift Tax Status

NEW YORK — A broad religious coalition, ranging from Baptists to Mormons, has filed a friend-of-court brief backing the Roman Catholic Church against a federal suit seeking to revoke the church’s tax exemption.

The suit, pressed by Abortion Rights Mobilization, a New York organization, claims that the church violated Internal Revenue Service rules for tax-exempt organizations by participating in campaign activity based on church opposition to abortion.

An appeals court, which heard arguments last week, has yet to rule on a district court’s contempt citation and heavy fines imposed on the church for refusing to supply extensive records sought in the suit.

Among those joining in the friend-of-court brief were the National Council of Churches, including most major Protestant and Eastern Orthodox denominations, and these other organizations:

The National Assn. of Evangelicals, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), American Baptist Churches and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

The Rev. Dean M. Kelley, church-state officer of the interdenominational council, says:

“We have a vital stake in the right of churches to stand on what they believe to be moral and religious issues without being deprived of tax exemption or being hauled into court by third parties.”