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Advocacy Blog
Thursday, August 16, 2007
AU Wants IRS to Investigate Southern Baptist Church in California for Church Electioneering
Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) asking for the investigation of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, California. AU Executive Director Barry Lynn said that the church's pastor, Dr. Wiley Drake, issued a news release on church letterhead Aug. 11 endorsing Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee which leaves the church at risk for violating federal tax law barring electioneering by non-profit groups. Drake also endorsed Huckabee on a church-affiliated radio show and featured a Huckabee campaign official. AU questions the relationship between the church and the radio show, given that they share the same telephone number indicating that resources are also shared. Read the AU press release and its complaint here.
"Use of church letterhead to endorse a candidate for public office appears to violate the provisions of federal tax law that prohibit non-profit intervention in political campaigns," Lynn wrote. "Drake's endorsement of a candidate on a church-based radio show raises the same concerns."
And the following day AU criticized the church pastor "who has urged followers to pray for the demise of staff members of the religious liberty watchdog group."
Posted by Amanda Adams
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