Accountable to God, the fans or the IRS?
Willie Nelson had his problems with the IRS. Bobby Barry Bonds still insists he had a suspicious disinterest in the substances that went into his superstar body. [Name your Hollywood star] is already cheating on the girlfriend who was supposed to be the reason he might be leaving spouse number two.
The fans forgive.
So why begrudge Ken Copeland if all he did was fall behind on his paperwork as he jetted away from his 18,000-square-foot parsonage to save souls and shoot exotic game animals?
It's not ours to judge, sayeth the Lord.
In Part One, I described big prosperity gospel ministries as businesses, with the faithful as customers. In Part Two, I suggested that losing disappointed followers is a big worry for the evangelists. But their charismatic leaders are also entertainers, and their followers behave with the forgiveness of fans.
It's difficult to put a precise value on the transactions between a superstar and the fans. Copeland and company are filling a deep need, even if those of us on the other team don't feel it.
Critics of the Grassley Senate investigation into six megaministries have called it a fishing expedition and an assault on religion. Even before it began, Pastor Copeland's "partners" were not in the IRS-loving demographic. Big government "persecution" is unlikely to convert them.
Still, the committee should go after organizations that accept millions in tax-deductible contributions without applying the money toward a public purpose. If church donors reduce their taxes, the rest of the taxpayers must pick up a higher portion of the tab for government services. And the donors are shortchanged if their contributions weren't used as they intended.
However, if we agree as a society to grant blanket tax-exempt status to
churches that proselytize, we must accept that their notions of community service may
be different than what government or traditional
nonprofits deliver. Because the evangelist's mission is saving souls, the theoretical
need is immense, effective methods are open to broad interpretation,
and actual results are impossible to document — at least by anyone but
God, and he isn't talking to the IRS, either.
Flamboyant fundraising is not a crime. Most nonprofit executives will admit there's some wiggle room in the budget to allocate costs between programs and overhead. Some of the answers about whether money is properly spent may not be that straightforward.
We'll get more into that next time.
