Conservative Group to Watch Liberal Churches in Virginia for Tax Violations

(CNSNews.com) - A conservative religious organization is keeping an eye on liberal churches in Virginia, threatening to report any that endorse or disparage political candidates in violation of their nonprofit status.

The Big Brother Church Watch, a group sponsored by the Religious Freedom Action Coalition (RFAC) in Washington, D.C., is sending volunteers to congregations throughout the state.

If there is any endorsement of, or objection to, a specific political candidate, the group has said it will report that church to the Internal Revenue Service, which could revoke its tax-exempt status.

The newly formed organization has already placed monitors in politically active Metropolitan Community, Unitarian/Universalist and African Methodist Episcopal churches, said the group's leader, Spotsylvania County resident William Murray. AME congregations are predominately African-American, and their pastors frequently endorse liberal Democrat candidates from the pulpit, he stated.

Volunteer workers also monitor the Internet sites of Democratic candidates and follow them to churches where they have announced they will speak, Murray said. If pastors allow the Democrat candidates to speak and do not invite their opponents for equal time, the churches will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service as "violators."

"When Big Brother turns a church in to the IRS, we will have documented proof that it has assisted a political candidate or a political party," Murray noted. "We have established a state-of-the-art Internet site (\ul www.ratoutachurch.org)\ulnone to gather the information from our volunteer monitors."

Murray said that a pastor would not even have to mention a candidate's name for a complaint to be lodged with the IRS. He stated that the monitors will be watching closely for liberal "code words."

"If a pastor tells the congregation to vote 'pro-choice' or for candidates that back nationalized health care or "taxing the rich," he is really telling them to vote for Democrats," Murray added.

"If a pastor uses the words 'racist' or 'confederate' referring to any Republican, he is telling the congregation to vote Democrat," he said. "If the pastor tells the congregation to go see Fahrenheit 9/11 or says he appreciates the work of Michael Moore, he is telling them to vote Democrat."

Murray said these are reasonable assumptions considering the list given to operatives of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) and the ACLU. They are told to report churches as "violators" to the IRS if the pastor says to vote for candidates who are pro-life or against "gay" marriage because those are Republican code words.

"Well," said Murray, "there are plenty of liberal code words that are used from the pulpit that tell members of congregations that they have to vote Democrat or wind up in Hell. What applies to conservative churches should apply to liberal churches as well."

Murray said that the fight over same-sex marriage and the Federal Marriage Amendment has influenced some very liberal churches to jump into the political fray, with warnings to their congregations about conservative candidates who are "homophobic" and guilty of "hate speech" if they support traditional marriage. Members are urged to vote for candidates (mostly Democrats) who espouse "diversity" and "inclusiveness."

"You tend to hear more about the conservatives, but no one is checking the liberal churches," Peggy Birchfield, executive director of the RFAC, told the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va.

The group was created several weeks ago in response to an IRS complaint filed last month by the AU against the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Birchfield said.

Based in Washington, D.C., the AU charged that televangelist Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., violated tax-exemption laws when he endorsed President Bush on his ministry's Web site. He specifically urged conservative people of faith to vote for the president's re-election.

The IRS refuses to make any comments on the complaint.

However, the Rev. Barry Lynn, AU executive director, said his organization's agenda is nonpartisan.

"We have reported churches that have endorsed John Kerry as well as George W. Bush," he said. "We want to get all churches and religious groups to obey the law."

AU gathers most of its information from news organizations or church members who are upset with their houses of worship. It doesn't send people to churches, he added.

Murray's mother was Madalyn Murray O'Hair, an active atheist who filed the lawsuit that eventually led to a Supreme Court decision banning school-sponsored prayer.

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