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Family Research Council, Leading Right-Wing D.C. Think Tank, Is Now a Church as Far as the IRS Is Concerned

The prominent think tank, dubbed a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, can now avoid financial scrutiny as it fights abortion and the LGBT+ community.

The Family Research Council (FRC) is one of D.C.’s best-known, and most successful, right-wing think tanks, dedicated to issues such as overturning Roe v. Wade, fighting against transgender rights, and battling same-sex marriage. It bills itself as “the leading voice for the family in our nation’s halls of power.” But according to a report from ProPublica, it is also—at least for the Internal Revenue Service—recognized as a church, with FRC President Tony Perkins now doubling up as a religious leader. Picking up on a trend first reported by The Washington Post of evangelical nonprofits re-registering as churches, the report said the change of tax status allows organizations to avoid financial scrutiny and will no longer be forced to file public documents listing the names of board members or key staffer salaries. “I don’t believe that a lot of the organizations that have filed for the church exemption are in fact churches, and I don’t think that they think that they are in fact churches,” said Warren Cole Smith, president of the Christian transparency watchdog MinistryWatch.