WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) today announced a national campaign to inform churches about federal tax law forbidding partisan politicking by tax-exempt groups.
The Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group said it will mail a special election-year alert to all houses of worship in 11 states, reminding them that intervention in partisan political campaigns is a violation of the Internal Revenue Service Code.
The letters, totaling over 117,000, begin mailing today and will be sent to every house of worship in Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri and Virginia.
Evangelical churches in those states are being targeted by James Dobson and other Religious Right leaders who want to build a church-based political machine on behalf of favored Republican candidates.
"Dragging churches into partisan politics is just plain wrong," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. "It violates tax law, it damages the integrity of religion and it harms our democracy.
"Dobson and other Religious Right leaders want to politicize America's pulpits," Lynn continued. "I urge religious leaders not to go along with it. Houses of worship that get drawn into Dobson's political machine could emerge with their tax-exempt status severely mangled."
In August, Religious Right leader Dobson's Focus on the Family (FOF) appealed to supporters in eight states to mobilize evangelical Christian churches before the November elections. The e-mail said the group's state affiliates will lead the project and asked for volunteers to serve as county coordinators and church coordinators. Pastors will be asked to give political sermons and churches will be encouraged to hand out voter guides.
Americans United's Lynn, who is a United Church of Christ minister, warned pastors to be wary of the FOF overture. He noted that Dobson is increasingly acting as a Republican political operative.
Lynn said religious leaders need to be especially cautious about voter guides, which are often biased.
In clear cases of violations of federal tax law, Lynn said, Americans United will not hesitate to ask the IRS to intervene.
AU's mailing to counter the Dobson effort includes all of his targeted states (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey, Minnesota, Montana and Tennessee) and adds three others (Texas, Virginia and Missouri) that have shown evidence of church-based political organizing.
Visit Americans United at http://www.au.org for more information.
Tags: news politics religious right religion law elections constitution
