If every tax-exempt religious organization received the same scrutiny as Washington's now famous C Street rowhouse, the IRS would have its hands full. But given the evidence available, it's difficult to see why a boarding house for evangelical Congressmen should be classified as a church -- for the purposes of God or Caesar.

Until last fall, the C Street Center paid no property taxes in the District of Columbia because it received an E1, or religious, exemption. After D.C. officials inspected the $1.8 million townhouse near the U.S. Capitol, they declared 66 percent of it to be a taxable residence, not a tax-exempt church. "Portions are being rented to private individuals for residential purposes," a D.C. official told the Post.

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