church bailouts Archives - American Atheists

Stop the Small Business Administration’s Giveaway of Taxpayer Dollars to Religious Organizations!

American Atheists — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 18:19:45 +0000

During the COVID-19 crisis, the Small Business Administration has been temporarily ignoring church/state requirements in order to unconstitutionally bail out houses of worship under the Paycheck Protection Program. As a result, churches and religious organizations have received more than $7.3 billion in taxpayer dollars. Now, the agency is proposing to permanently change its rule to strip away all restrictions on giving funds to religious organizations. We must demand that SBA leave these vital protections for the constitutional separation of religion and government in place! Please contact the agency today! SBA’s long standing rule against providing funds to religious organizations was implemented in 1996 to “comport with Constitutional requirements” and protect the separation of religion and government. The rule does actually need to be updated to follow recent Supreme Court guidance. But the agency doesn’t want to update it — they plan to strip it altogether and open the door to taxpayer dollars being given to religious organizations. We’ve already seen what happens when this restriction is lifted. During the Paycheck Protection Program, money given to religious organizations was subject to fraud and abuse because there is a lack of transparency and accountability. And even the money that was not subject to fraud was used to unconstitutionally support religious activities! We must tell SBA to reconsider this ill-advised rule change. American Atheists plans to work with the incoming Biden Administration to halt this effort. But to be successful, the agency must hear from as many people as possible that this is not acceptable! Please submit your comment to SBA today and encourage others to do so before February 12th!

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New COVID Relief Bill to Enrich Wealthy Megachurches with Second Round of Government Funding

American Atheists — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 23:43:57 +0000

Washington, D.C.—Today, the watchdog organization American Atheists denounced Congress for intentionally excluding church/state separation protections from the new $900 billion coronavirus relief bill, H.R. 133, while authorizing special exemptions for religious organizations. As a result, pro-Trump prosperity gospel pastors and other wealthy megachurches will be able to receive a second round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding from a refreshed pool of $284 billion. According to the bill, “It is the sense of Congress that [the Small Business Administration] properly clarified the eligibility of churches and [religious] organizations for [PPP funding]” (p. 160). The bill retroactively permits the unconstitutional $7.3 billion church bailout under the CARES Act and opens up a second round of funding for religious worship under the current bill. “Prosperity gospel pastors and wealthy churches will once again get their hands on taxpayer dollars. Sadly, Congress chose to ignore the corruption and abuse resulting from the previous church bailout,” said Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy at American Atheists. “It is unconstitutional and immoral to force the American taxpayer to prop up rich churches when so many people are in dire need.” American Atheists, other watchdog organizations, and the media have reported on multiple PPP-related church scandals: Daystar, one of the richest televangelist networks in the world, applied for and received $3.9 million in PPP funding. Two weeks later, the church went out and purchased a multimillion dollar private jet. A nonexistent church, “ASLAN International Ministry,” took in $8 million. Prosperity gospel pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church pocketed $4.4 million in PPP funding. Televangelist Jim Bakker was sued by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) for falsely claiming products sold through his ministry cured COVID-19. His Missouri-based Morningside Church received between $350,000 and $1 million in government funding. Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart was defrocked by the Pentecostal Assemblies of God for his involvement in a prostitution scandal. His Louisiana-based Family Worship Center claimed between $2 million and $5 million. The U.S. Catholic Church capitalized off of an unprecedented exemption to amass between $1.4 and $3.5 billion dollars. The new bill specifically authorizes this exemption. In addition, the $900 billion coronavirus bill provides $2.75 billion to private schools, many of which are religious and discriminate against students and their families (p. 1853). “Congress is once again ensuring that wealthy churches can buy private jets while telling struggling American families that our nation’s budget could only afford $600 per person in direct relief,” said Nick Fish, president of American Atheists. “It’s a moral outrage and a complete failure on the part of Congress.” “People are in danger of eviction. People are wondering where their next meal will come from. And yet it’s unaccountable churches and big businesses that are getting bailed out. I’m disgusted,” added Fish.

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Trump Administration Must Disclose Full Details of $7.3 Billion Church Bailout, Federal Court Rules

American Atheists — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 20:51:31 +0000

Washington, D.C.—11/5/2020—Today, the church/state watchdog organization praised the United States District Court for the District of Columbia’s ruling that the Trump Administration must disclose the full details of the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loan recipients. This program includes approximately $7.3 billion used to bail out churches. “This is an important victory for government accountability and church/state separation,” said Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy at American Atheists. “Americans will learn exactly how much of their tax dollars were used to unconstitutionally support the religious activities of churches.” In July, the Trump Administration released incomplete data in response to multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, including American Atheists’ from June 16. The Trump Administration’s decision to only release broad ranges of loan amounts for recipients, including houses of worship, receiving more than $150,000 and to not release the names of recipients receiving less than $150,000 prevented full transparency. “Once these documents are made available, we will scour them and find out why the Trump Administration wanted to hide the details of this church bailout from taxpayers. Our investigation continues,” said Gill. “This is a win for religious equality and accountability. But it’s just the first step. The Trump Administration has allowed religious entities, including Catholic churches, to ignore PPP rules, fire workers, and still get their loans forgiven,” said Nick Fish, president of American Atheists. “There are still massive flaws in this program that have allowed churches to skirt the rules and ignore the basic requirements of the program—to say nothing of the fact that this multi-billion dollar giveaway to religious worship should never have happened in the first place.”

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Trump Administration Creates Special Rules for Churches to Access Public Funds, Yet Again

American Atheists — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 22:31:35 +0000

Washington, D.C.—Today, the Small Business Administration published a new Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) regulation that, once again, particularly benefits churches. American Atheists denounced this rule as yet another unconstitutional attack by the Trump Administration on church/state separation. Under this regulation, SBA will forgive business loans of $50,000 or less even if those businesses ignored PPP loan forgiveness stipulations and fired workers. For small businesses that are affiliated with larger entities, this exemption applies up to $2 million in aggregate. Affiliated houses of worship, however, are not capped at $2 million. As a result, substantially larger religious organizations with many small affiliates will be able to take government funding and receive loan forgiveness even if they violate the one requirement of the program: not firing workers. “With this religious exemption, Catholic churches may have broken PPP rules, fired workers, and yet their loans will still be forgiven,” said Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy at American Atheists. “The Small Business Administration is putting religious organizations before workers. They should not receive a special privilege to fire workers merely because they are religious.” As American Atheists warned in April, the suspension of affiliation rules for religious organizations allowed for widespread abuse. In June, American Atheists launched an investigation into the church bailouts and in July determined that houses of worship received between $6.2 and $9.7 billion at a minimum. The U.S. Catholic Church alone took in between $1.4 and $3.5 billion. “SBA has not only allowed massive, wealthy religious organizations like the Catholic Church to receive billions in taxpayer dollars but also is now letting them break the rules and still fill their coffers. It’s morally reprehensible,” said Nick Fish, president of American Atheists.

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Bailout Loans for Religious Worship Must Be Paid Back, Not Forgiven

American Atheists — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 18:30:45 +0000

Outrageously, more than $7.3 billion in forgivable loans went to places of worship through the Paycheck Protection Program! As early as August, banks will begin forgiving these loans, turning them into grants — free money for religious worship. Congress has one last chance to correct this gross constitutional violation — in the new coronavirus relief bill, lawmakers must stipulate that any loan funds used for a religious purpose cannot be forgiven and must be paid back. We need your help to remedy this unprecedented and unconstitutional church bailout — please contact your Senators and Representative now! Under the Paycheck Protection Program, the Small Business Administration has allowed places of worship and religious organization to receive loan funding that can be used for clergy salary and other religious activities. However, Congress can fix the agency’s unconstitutional giveaway by ensuring that loan funding used for religious activities is not forgivable. This is the last chance, as lenders are expected to start offering loan forgiveness as early as next month. SBA has reported that at least 88,411 religious organizations received at least $7.3 billion in loans through PPP. The only way to ensure that Americans are not forced to subsidize religion is to prevent the portion of these funds used for religious activities from being forgiven. This is the critical moment — please write to Congress now and ask them to prevent loan forgiveness for funds used for religious activities!

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American Atheists Demands Full Transparency on Closed-Door Briefing on Church Bailouts

American Atheists — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 16:16:03 +0000

Washington, D.C.—This week, the religious equality watchdog organization American Atheists continued its investigation into the Trump Administration’s church bailouts. Last week, American Atheists learned that journalists participated in a private briefing about the nearly $700 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), in which officials from the Small Business Administration (SBA) provided information about the value of loans issued to multiple industry sectors, including houses of worship. Presumably, the summaries provided by SBA were more accurate than the PPP data the agency released publicly because they were based on actual loan amounts rather than the broad ranges for loans revealed by SBA. In response, American Atheists submitted an additional Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to SBA, demanding “all analyses, studies, reports, and any other documentation upon which SBA, its officers, employees, or agents based statements to any press entity regarding the disbursement of PPP funds to religious entities.” “We will continue to demand full transparency about these church bailouts,” said Geoffrey Blackwell, litigation counsel at American Atheists. “The American people need every piece of information about this unconstitutional giveaway to houses of worship to ensure accountability.” Relying on SBA’s incomplete data, American Atheists estimated a church bailout amount of between $6.2 and $9.7 billion at a minimum. According to a slide from the briefing, the Trump Administration provided $7.3 billion to religious organizations. “If SBA is going to peg the church bailout at $7.3 billion, then it must release the data confirming that amount,” said Nick Fish, president of American Atheists. “With the Trump Administration’s penchant for distortion and outright lies, we should not take this Administration at its word.” “Since the Paycheck Protection Program was first announced, we have demanded full transparency for all recipients of federal money. The Administration’s attempts to shield nearly 80,000 houses of worship from even basic disclosure requirements is unconscionable,” he added.

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American Atheists Launches Investigation into Trump Administration’s Secretive Church Bailouts

American Atheists — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 19:09:26 +0000

Washington D.C.—Today, the church/state watchdog organization American Atheists announced it is investigating the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s church bailouts, as part of the nearly $700 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Last Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the Trump Administration plans to keep secret the identities of businesses and nonprofits, including houses of worship, that have received government bailouts. “The Trump Administration should never have funneled taxpayer dollars toward religious worship. This is patently unconstitutional,” said Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy at American Atheists. “Now that it has happened, we demand complete transparency to determine the scope of this unconstitutional activity and the extent of any favoritism.” In a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request sent today, American Atheists formally sought records from SBA, including PPP borrower application forms for nonprofits, including churches, and any written communication between SBA and nonprofits discussing PPP funds. “Has the Trump Administration shown pro-Trump preachers and religious denominations favoritism? Did Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White and his constant evangelical backer, Robert Jeffress, receive an outsized guaranteed loan—essentially a huge amount of free money? We simply don’t know, and that’s the problem,” said Gill. “Where public funds go, public accountability must follow.” According to the fourth page of the PPP borrower application form, “Subject to certain exceptions, SBA must supply information reflected in agency files and records to a person requesting it. Information about approved loans that will be automatically released includes…the names of the borrowers…[and] the amount of the loan…” “Functioning democracies depend on government transparency. If the SBA insists on hiding these handouts to religious organizations, in violation of federal law, we are prepared to take further legal action,” said Geoffrey Blackwell, Litigation Counsel at American Atheists. “Openness and accountability are necessary to protect the separation of religion and government. Nothing has been ruled out.” “There is strong precedent for legal action on these issues,” added Blackwell. During the global financial crisis, Bloomberg News successfully sued the Federal Reserve, forcing the agency to reveal the names of the financial firms that benefited from its trillion-dollar emergency bank lending program. Last Tuesday, five news organizations filed a lawsuit against SBA over its refusal to disclose the identities of PPP borrowers. “What does the SBA have to hide?” asked Nick Fish, president of American Atheists. “American taxpayers deserve to know if the Trump Administration is redirecting money intended to help American small businesses to prosperity gospel pastors, evangelical groups, and Catholic churches sitting on tens- or hundreds-of-billions of dollars in assets.”

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