Charities Act gives privilege to politically active religions and support groups
An organisation can qualify for charitable status in Ireland if its stated purpose is the advancement of religion. This combines with other laws on the funding of political activity to give unjust privilege to politically active religions and their support groups. Meanwhile, weaknesses in the oversight processes benefit nod-and-wink approaches to compliance.
This puts groups like Atheist Ireland at a disadvantage, because religious beliefs are given a legal status denied to nonreligious philosophical beliefs, and there is no charitable category under which we could fall. We could try to register under the category of promoting education about atheism, but that would not be an honest description of our purpose. Our policy is to comply honestly with the law while campaigning to amend it so it treats everyone justly.
Meanwhile, politically active religions like the Catholic Church and its political allies can receive unlimited donations under their charitable status of advancement of religion. They can use that money to promote political purposes such as maintaining control of State-funded schools and campaigning against choice in abortion. While doing this, they can also evade the SIPO laws by arguing that they do not receive any donations for political purposes.
This article outlines what the Charities Act and the Charities Regulator say about the topic, an analysis from 2016 of the various regulations for financing political campaigns, correspondence between Atheist Ireland and the Charities Regulator in 2018 about the charitable status of the Iona Institute, and some recent articles by Atheist Ireland on the issue during 2020 including submissions to the UN and Irish Senators.
Contents
- The Charities Act and the Regulator’s Guidance Document
- The Tangled Web of Financial Rules for Campaigning 2016
- Letter to Charities Regulator re Iona Institute 2018
- The Positive Right to Nonreligious Philosophical Beliefs
- Submission to UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues
- Submission to UN Human Rights Committee under ICCPR
- Protecting Democracy from the Undue Influence of Big Money
1. The Charities Act and the Regulator’s Guidance Documents
Section 3.1 of the Charities Act 2009 includes four categories of charitable purpose:
- the prevention or relief of poverty or economic hardship
- the advancement of education
- the advancement of religion
- any other purpose that is of benefit to the community
The purpose must also be of public benefit. However, the Act presumes, unless the contrary is proved, that a gift for the advancement of religion is of public benefit.
The Charities Regulator’s Guidance Document ‘What is a Charity?’ currently elaborates on Category 3 (the advancement of religion) as follows:
“The Charities Act 2009 does not contain a definition of religion. However, existing case law has established that a religion has two core elements: Belief in a ’Supreme Being’ and Faith and worship of that ’Supreme Being.’
To advance religion, your organisation’s work must support a religion that contains the two core elements outlined, but it does not necessarily need to be a religious body. For example, if your organisation exists to raise awareness of a religious belief through the dissemination of religious books or films or to organise religious pilgrimages or retreats, it could fall within this category.
Unlike other jurisdictions, donations or gifts for the advancement of religion are presumed to be of public benefit, unless the contrary is proved. However, a donation or gift is not deemed to be for the advancement of religion if it is made to, or for the benefit of, an organisation or cult, that employs oppressive psychological manipulation of its followers or to gain new followers or whose main objective is to make a profit.”
The Charities Regulator has also published a document titled Guidance on Charities and the Promotion of Political Causes.
It states that a charity must promote a charitable purpose only, and that subject to certain limited exceptions, all of its property must be applied in furtherance of the charity’s charitable purpose. It can lose its charitable status where it seeks to promote a political cause which does not directly advance its charitable purpose.
2. The Tangled Web of Financial Rules for Campaigning 2016
In April 2016 Atheist Ireland published an analysis of the tangled web of financial rules for political campaign groups at that date. We stated in this article about the Charities Act:
“The Catholic Bishops’ Conference and its associated bodies are registered charities. The Iona Institute is also a registered charity. The Iona Institute exists solely to advance and promote the Christian religion, and its social and moral values. That is how it describes its object in its memorandum of association lodged with the companies office.
The Iona Institute has tax-exempt status in Ireland precisely because it exists to advance religion, which is one of the four categories of activity that enables charities to have tax-exempt status in Ireland. Legally, all of its income and property must be applied solely towards the promotion of its main charitable object as set out in its Governing Instrument, which is to advance and promote the Christian religion, and its social and moral values.
When you hear the Catholic Church or the Iona Institute in the media promoting a political cause based on religion, they have a privilege that the rest of us don’t enjoy. When you hear them claim that they are being pushed out of the ‘public square’ remember that they enjoy a privilege that organisations (in the public square) with an opposing view do not enjoy.
It is also worth remembering that the Catholic Church is not registered with SIPO as they claim that they don’t receive donations to promote a political cause. Every time the Catholic Church or the Iona Institute are interviewed in the media on any subject, they are advancing religion as that is the legal basis on which they have their charitable status.”
3. Letter to Charities Regulator re Iona Institute 2018
In April 2018 Atheist Ireland asked the Charities Regulator to investigate whether the Iona Institute was complying with the Charities Act. To summarise, we asked the Regulator to investigate two questions:
- Is all of Iona’s political activity directly related only to advancing religion, as required by the charity category under which it is registered?
- Is all of Iona’s political activity directly related only to advancing the Christian religion, as required by the main object in its memorandum of association?
After investigating, the Regulator stated that it was satisfied that the Iona Institute has a charitable purpose under the Act and that its activities are in furtherance of its charitable purpose. You can also read that response at this link.
The Regulator’s response was not consistent with its own Guidance Document, and the Regulator amended its Guidance Document to delete a section that our arguments relied on.
We had quoted from the Guidance Document:
“In addition to examining whether your organisation meets the criteria of a religion, we also examine how your organisation advances this religion (for example, through the provision of places of worship, raising awareness of religious beliefs or conducting missionary work).”
The Regulator stated in its response:
“We note your interpretation of the Charities Regulator’s ‘What is a charity?’ Guidance Document, insofar as it relates to the advancement of religion as a charitable purpose. Your interpretation was not as was intended in the preparation of the document and we are considering amending the document to clarify the position.”
The Regulator then removed the above sentence from its Guidance Document and replaced it with:
“To advance religion, your organisation’s work must support a religion that contains the two core elements outlined, but it does not necessarily need to be a religious body.”
The response did not address other points that we made to the Regulator. Again, you can read the detail of our letter and the Regulator’s response here.
4. The Positive Right to Nonreligious Philosophical Beliefs
In February 2020 Atheist Ireland published an article on why the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion protects atheists and nonreligious philosophical convictions such as secularism. We referred mostly to the impact on the education system and the Equal Status Act, but the same arguments apply to the different treatment of religious and nonreligious philosophical groups in the Charities Act.
In April 2020 Atheist Ireland published an article on understanding the human right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief in the context of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael’s proposed framework for government, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the 1995 Report of the Constitutional Review Group. In this article we stated:
“One example of this discrimination in Ireland is the Charities Act 2009. Under the Category of ‘Religion’ it is only the advancement of religion that is recognised… Rules apply to Charities when engaging in activities to promote a political cause. Charities can only engage in activities to promote a political cause that is of direct relevance to the charitable purpose of a charity (Section 2 Charities Act 2009). Many religious charities got involved in the abortion referendum. Charities such as the Iona Institute can get unlimited donations in Ireland and abroad to promote their religious activities. For many of those religious charities their purpose was to oppose change to the Constitution in relation to abortion. That is a direct privilege to religious charities in relation to donations that does not apply to non-religious organisations.”
5. Submission to UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues
In May 2020 Atheist Ireland sent a submission to Dr Fernand de Varennes, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. He is preparing a report for the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, about the significance and scope of the four categories of minorities. As part of our submission we raised the following points regarding the Charities Act and tax law:
“6.6 The Irish charities Act and tax law discriminate against minorities with nonreligious philosophical convictions, by giving financial privileges to religious bodies only. For example, the advancement of religion is considered a charitable purpose, but the advancement of atheism is not. Religious bodies are not taxed even on income that is not raised or used for genuine charitable purposes but for political purposes such as campaigning to maintain the ban on abortion.”
6. Submission to UN Human Rights Committee under ICCPR
In August 2020 Atheist Ireland made a submission to the UN Human Rights Committee which is preparing a list of issues under which they will question Ireland under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
As part of our submission we requested that the Committee ask the Irish state:
“Will the state party amend the Charities Act under the ‘religion’ category to ‘religions and beliefs/philosophical convictions,’ and insert another category to ‘promote human rights’?”
You can read the detail of our supporting arguments for this here.
7. Protecting Democracy from the Undue Influence of Big Money
In October 2020 the Seanad debated a Bill that would enable people and groups other than politicians to raise money for political purposes between elections without the safeguards in the SIPO laws. Atheist Ireland sent a submission to all Senators, asking them to oppose this Bill in order to protect our democracy from the undue influence of big money.
We argued that if this Bill passed, politically active religions including the Catholic Church and its allies, some larger and wealthier civil society groups whose aims we agree with, and far-right activists with whom we strongly disagree, would all have access to even more big money to spend on lobbying decision-makers between elections. They and their wealthy donors would have even more undue influence on our democracy, which would be bad whether or not we agree with their aims.
Among our recommendations was to amend the Charities Act under the ‘religion’ category to ‘religions and beliefs/philosophical convictions,’ and insert another category to ‘promote human rights.’ This would mean that the law treats all civil society advocacy groups equally rather than giving undue influence to politically active religions and their allies.
We also recommended setting a different trigger for when a body must declare their funders. Currently, the Catholic Church and some campaign groups can claim that donations were not for political purposes. Instead, the trigger should happen when a body spends a certain amount on political purposes. The SIPO Commission itself has recommended this change in its 2016 annual report and has suggested €5,000 as the relevant amount of spending. This change would also protect small voluntary community groups for whom political advocacy is not the main focus of their work.
Summary
The Charities Act and related laws give unjust privilege to politically active religions and their support groups, and weaknesses in the oversight processes benefit nod-and-wink approaches to compliance. This puts groups like Atheist Ireland at a disadvantage, because religious beliefs are given a legal status denied to nonreligious philosophical beliefs despite both being protected equally under human rights laws.
Meanwhile, politically active religions like the Catholic Church and its political allies can receive unlimited donations under their charitable status of advancement of religion. They can use that money to promote political purposes such as maintaining control of State-funded schools and campaigning against choice in abortion. While doing this, they can also evade the SIPO laws by arguing that they do not receive any donations for political purposes.
Atheist Ireland will continue to lobby for fair and just regulation of how organisations raise and spend money for political purposes, to ensure that all citizens have equal access to the democratic process without the undue influence of big money.
