Posted by:
Curelom Joe
(
)
Date: April 28, 2018 09:42PM
Unlike in many other countries, the United States has almost never wanted to be in the business of deciding what is a genuine religion and what isn't. As long as there's a sign on the door, a congregation of some sort, and a statement that it's a religion, the US government will leave it alone and grant tax-free status.
If the US government reversed policy and began looking into the bonafides of one church or faith after another, the uproar, the fury, from many sides, would be like the battle of Stalingrad, D-Day, and the bombing of Hiroshima, all at once.
The separation of church and state doctrine, the Establishment Clause in the Constitution (that the US will not "establish" any religion), were designed to make sure that religion didn't have a defined role in the government (unlike in al European countries at the time), and has also operated to make the government's role in governing, or approving/disapproving of any plausible claim of being a religion, very very light-touch.
A religion can't commit crimes and get away with it, i.e. human or animal sacrifices are out, and there are limits to the tax-free status of donations (some must be spent for objectively linked purposes -- such as building temple after temple!) but that's the gist of it.
With its history of almost 200 years now as a faith, with temples, prophets, congregations, missionaries, holy scriptures, even martyrs, LDS absolutely has no difficulty in qualifying as a church for IRS purposes.