New Panel Holds Religious Groups Accountable

Senator Charles Grassley, Iowa Representative, has combined forces with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) to improve policy and accountability within the religious sector. This news comes on the heels of the ECFA's announcement of the new Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations and three years after the senator's inquiry into finances of six of the largest ministries in the nation.

The Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations will be responsible for gathering data on tax-exempt policy involving churches and evangelical groups, an area not reviewed in Congress since the late 1970s, and report feedback to the office of the senator. Issues the commission plans to address first include:

- If there should be established an official advisory committee by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for religious organizations.

- If churches should be required to file a form 990 or some other avenue of gathering detailed, financial information from churches.

- If churches and religious organizations should be allowed to participate in any political activities.

- If legislation is needed to clarify "love offerings" given directly to ministers and not processed by the church.

- If Congress should limit the clergy housing allowance exclusion.

The commission's chairman, Michael Batts, says, "It is our hope, as well as the senator's, that solutions will be found without the need for burdensome legislation that creates excessive entanglement between the church and the government. One obvious area that will be explored carefully is the concept of self-regulation."

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