WASHINGTON (ABP) — A religious-liberty group often accused of attacking conservative churches for political activity has criticized two progressive Baptist congregations for Democratic advocacy.
Americans United for Separation of Church and state is asking the Internal Revenue Service to investigate New Birth Baptist Church in Miami for hosting what the group called a “Democratic rally” during an Aug. 29 worship service.
At the service, which featured Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe and Democratic political activist Al Sharpton, speakers urged the congregation to defeat President Bush in his bid for re-election.
“Bush has misled us for four years and will not mislead us the next four years. Get out and vote, and we'll send Bush back to Texas,” McAulliffe said, according to Americans United.
Churches and other non-profit groups organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax codes are not allowed to endorse political parties or candidates without risking loss of their tax-exempt status. However, churches may host voter registration drives and educational activities as long as they are done in a non-partisan fashion.
In his complaint to the IRS, AU's executive director, Barry Lynn, said New Birth's actions went beyond that. “This event seems to have gone beyond legitimate voter education about issues,” he wrote. “Rather, the event was partisan in its approach and included only Democrats. It promoted Democratic candidates while disparaging Republicans.… I urge you to take appropriate action to correct this abuse of the law.”
Americans United also criticized — although it stopped short of asking for officials to investigate — an Aug. 29 speech by former President Bill Clinton at the famously liberal Riverside Church in New York City. Clinton's speech, which was timed for the beginning of the Republican National Convention in New York, was highly critical of Bush's policies. However, Clinton did not directly endorse Bush's challenger, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.
Riverside Church is dually affiliated with the American Baptist Churches and the United Church of Christ.
“The difference between the Florida and the Riverside cases is that you in Florida, you had the chairman of the Democratic National Committee basically telling people how to vote — not just criticizing the shortcomings of a candidate,” Lynn told an Associated Baptist Press reporter. “Bill Clinton's speech…came right to the edge of the cliff, but stopped short of a direct candidate endorsement.”
AU has regularly criticized — and sometimes reported — conservative churches and ministries for appearing to endorse Republican candidates. In recent months, the group has asked IRS officials to investigate Virginia Baptist pastor and television preacher Jerry Falwell as well as Arkansas Baptist pastor Ronnie Floyd for endorsing Bush. It also criticized an Aug. 24 chapel speech that Falwell gave at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
“I'm appalled by both of them,” Lynn said of Falwell and Clinton's respective speeches. “I think that it's deplorable when political leaders or religious leaders — a Jerry Falwell or a Bill Clinton — kind of skirt the law and turn a religious institution almost into a political entity.”
Several conservative groups have pushed in the last two years to pass legislation, sponsored by Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) that would end the ban on politicking by churches and other houses of worship. AU and other church-state separationist groups have strongly opposed the bill.
Bill Murray, a Virginia-based conservative religious activist whose biggest claim to fame is being the born-again son of the late atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair, is one of AU's fiercest critics. He backs the Jones bill, and recently started a satirical organization to “rat out liberal churches” for political involvement. He told Associated Baptist Press that Lynn, through AU, “does nothing but attack conservatives in order to help liberals get into political office.”
Murray also accused AU of reporting the Miami church only to avoid criticism that the group only attacked partisan churches. “This is just grandstanding to pretend that he is being non-partisan,” he said, noting that the conservative Catholic League reported the political activity at New Birth Baptist a day before AU did. “As of two weeks ago, [AU] had only reported two liberal churches” to the IRS, he said.
AU spokesman Joe Conn told ABP that his group hadn't waited on the Catholic League to report the Miami church to the IRS, but simply took longer to investigate the situation carefully before deciding to report New Birth for violations of the law.
Conn also called Murray's accusations of partisanship on AU's part unjustified. “Our first interest in this was [church endorsements of Democratic presidential candidate] Jesse Jackson back in '88, so it's hardly a partisan effort on our part,” he said.
According to a document the group provided to ABP, of the 52 churches AU has reported to the IRS since 1992 for inappropriate political activity, 31 were accused of activity in support of conservative candidates, while 21 were accused of activity in support of liberal candidates.
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