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Corrected on 2/12/07: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the church that Bill Clinton visited. Clinton visited the Temple of Praise. The morning after his wife, Hillary, was routed in three state contests by Sen. Barack Obama in their dead-heat battle for the Democratic nomination, former President Bill Clinton made his case for her before a packed Sunday service at one of the largest black churches in Washington, D.C. But first he offered an apology of sorts for racially tinged comments he made about Obama and his candidacy that have triggered a backlash in the black community and...

**EXCERPT** SILVER SPRING, Md. — After losing two caucuses and a primary to Senator Barack Obama Saturday, Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign seemed like it might need a prayer. Or two. And so Bill Clinton started off his day of Potomac Primary campaigning with a stop at the Temple of Praise, an African-American church in Washington, DC. Then he attended services — again — at another church: The Greater Mt. Nebo African Methodist Episcopal Church in Bowie, Maryland. Throughout his five stops Sunday — one in the district and four just outside the Beltway in Maryland — former president Clinton struck...

Clinton Says Choice Is a Dilemma Feb 10 03:05 PM US/Eastern By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer BOWIE, Md. (AP) - Former President Clinton said Sunday that having to choose between his wife and Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination is a God-given dilemma. Clinton, who visited black churches in the District of Columbia and Maryland, said he understands black people's desire to finally elect one of their own as president. But he urged them also to consider Hillary Rodham Clinton' experience and policy initiatives in housing, education, health care and her support voting representation in Congress for...

NEW HAVEN - Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton's Election Day visit to New Haven poll workers Tuesday prompted state election officials to caution that politicking within 75 feet of polling sites is against state law. Two television station reporters told state officials Tuesday morning that Clinton brought poll workers coffee and talked with a firefighter at a New Haven precinct when polls opened at 6 a.m., said Adam Joseph, a spokesman for the secretary of the state's office. WTNH-TV reported that Chelsea Clinton immediately went outside after election moderator Nilda Torres announced that the polls were open.

"Former President Clinton laughs with Pastor Noel Jones, left, and Ambassador Sidney Williams as he campaigns for his wife, Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., at the City of Refuge Church in Gardena, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008.""Former President Bill Clinton speaks during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church while campaigning for his wife Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton"

WASHINGTON – Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband visited predominantly black churches Sunday, hoping to ease resentment among a core constituency group that felt her campaign disparaged the achievements of presidential rival Barack Obama. Obama, meanwhile, sent Oprah Winfrey to California to campaign for him as polls indicated he has narrowed Clinton's lead among Democrats nationwide as well as in that state. The Illinois senator said Clinton is a polarizing figure, which makes him the better nominee in the fall. Obama's campaign said he would air a TV ad during the Super Bowl, an expensive time slot, in two...

Just more than a week after Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary, Bill Clinton appeared before black parishioners Sunday as the latest poll showed his wife's once commanding lead in California has eroded. Clinton's back-to-back appearances at four churches in the Los Angeles area's historical black heartland appeared intended to smooth over perceptions that the former president injected race into last month's Democratic primary in South Carolina. Obama scored a 2-to-1 victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton in that election, and the two are tied among likely Democratic primary voters in California, according to...

In the run-up to Super Tuesday, former President Bill Clinton is planning a tour of African-American churches this Sunday in Los Angeles. A prominent elected official who will be joining him has described it as Clinton’s 'mea culpa tour' to the black community. The former president set off a firestorm of criticism for comments he made during the South Carolina primary, comments which were widely interpreted as racially insensitive. He’s adamantly denied he was playing racial politics. Exit polls show President Clinton’s seemingly aggressive campaigning may have contributed to the stunning defeat his wife Hillary Clinton suffered in the primary...

Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA), a Hillary Clinton supporter, will take Bill Clinton to more than six African-American churches tomorrow and has asked him write a letter of apology to each church for remarks made during the South Carolina primary campaign. Rep. Watson said the letter is still being developed, but that Mr. Clinton "knows what needs to be in it". While still a Clinton supporter in spite of Clinton's comments, Watson does have some uncomfortable feelings over them. Clinton most likely will not be allowed to speak, but will receive an introduction from a long term community leader. Watson predicts...

“I made a phone call in and just said hello to them, called in on a speakerphone, said hi and encouraged them, you know. And that was it,” the former Arkansas governor said Tuesdayduring an interview outside a Tampa polling place. “They told me there was over a thousand of them there. I’m not sure how many because I couldn’t see them. I could only hear them on the phone.”

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Now that the Republican primary is over in South Carolina, it's onto the Democrats. Sunday Michelle Obama and Chelsea Clinton attended service at the same Midlands church, and News 10 was there. If you've ever visited Bible Way Church of Atlas Road, you know there's a lot of singing. Sunday morning the church had two extra voices: Michelle Obama and Chelsea Clinton. One on one side of the church, one on the other. And the congregation took note. "I don't know. It was kinda awkward," said Evette Brown. "Well to me I think it shows divide...

Obama Addresses Homophobia, Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia Among Black Americansby Jason Horowitz January 20, 2008 In a speech today at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.served as pastor, Barack Obama talked about the existence of institutional racism, the sensationalizing of race "by the media" and the creeping of race as an issue into the presidential campaign. But Obama's speech will likely be remembered for his calling on the black community to do its part to fight homophobia, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. Obama says in the speech: "We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them,"...

With their dark suits, white shirts and name tags, Mormon missionaries are the most identifiable representatives of the LDS Church in America. Yet as they knock on doors or ride their bikes through South Carolina and Nevada neighborhoods during this weekend's presidential primaries, they have been forbidden to talk about Mitt Romney. The LDS Church's mission is "to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ," LDS spokesman Scott Trotter said Friday. "As a church we are politically neutral and have instructed our missionaries to focus on that mission and to respectfully decline any invitations to discuss politics." The Church of Jesus...

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – Hours after Democrat Hillary Clinton was sharply critical of rival Barack Obama in an interview on NBC's Meet The Press, the New York senator struck a different tone on his candidacy in a predominantly African-American church in South Carolina. "Probably many of us thought we would never see the day when an African-American and a woman were competing for the presidency of the United States," Clinton said at the Northminster Presbyterian Church in Columbia. "I am so proud of my party I am so proud of my country and I am so proud of Sen....

DES MOINES, Dec. 30 -- Republican rivals Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney took their battle over Christian voters to the pews as both attended services while their campaigns spanned Iowa in a final Sunday pitch to evangelicals. With Christian conservatives expected to make up as much as 40 percent of Republican caucusgoers, Romney dispatched surrogates to meet with pastors in the far corners of Iowa, hoping to blunt Huckabee's momentum among evangelicals. On Friday, three national religious leaders backing Huckabee -- Tim LaHaye, Michael Farris and Rick Scarborough -- convened a conference call with Iowa pastors to urge them to...

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — Republican Mike Huckabee spoke from the pulpit Sunday, not as a politician but as the preacher he used to be, and delivered a sermon on how merely being good isn't enough to get into heaven. Huckabee is vying for support from the Christian conservatives who dominate the GOP in South Carolina, which on Saturday chooses a Republican presidential nominee. A former Baptist minister and Arkansas governor, Huckabee is competing for their votes with fellow southerner Fred Thompson. As in Iowa, where Huckabee won the Jan. 3 caucuses, Huckabee is rousing pastors to marshal their flocks for...

WINDHAM, N.H., Jan. 6 -- A pastor from Texas was scheduled to deliver the sermon Sunday at a church here called the Crossing. But instead this small evangelical congregation heard from a different special guest: Baptist minister and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who delivered a sermon of more than 20 minutes on how to be part of "God's Army" in the middle school cafeteria where the congregation meets. "When we become believers, it's as if we have signed up to be part of God's Army, to be soldiers for Christ," Huckabee told the enthusiastic audience.... ...."When you give yourself...

MASON CITY, Iowa — Democrat Barack Obama on Sunday confronted one of the persistent falsehoods circulating about him on the Internet. He went to church. His attendance here at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, with the news media in tow, was as much an observation of faith as it was a rejoinder to baseless e-mailed rumors that he is a Muslim and poses a threat to the security of the United States.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took her message to the pulpit on Sunday at a Baptist church in Des Moines where she spoke in anticipation of the Iowa caucuses. While GOP contender Mike Huckabee has garnered attention for his mixing of faith and politics, Clinton's action received scant media coverage. And while such actions are sometimes controversial, IRS rules allow candidates to speak in churches within certain guidelines. New York Sen. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, both spoke in Iowa churches on Sunday -- part of their last-minute appeal for votes. She made what amounted to a...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Iowa pastors who support Republican Mike Huckabee have received letters warning them that getting involved in politics could endanger their churches' tax-exempt status. Several pastors who have publicly backed Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister who has the support of many evangelicals, said the letters have no return address. They have arrived in the weeks leading to Thursday's precinct caucuses, which begin the presidential nominating process. Two letters have been sent to the Rev. Brad Sherman, of Solid Rock Christian Church in Coralville. The first arrived a couple weeks ago and warned that he could be prosecuted...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a campaign sermon Sunday, but didn't stick around to hear the pastor do his preaching. "We're still at church. We're still going to worship no matter what," the Rev. Lee Maxey said as the Democratic presidential candidate, her daughter, Chelsea, and their entourage left Corinthian Baptist Church, the media pack close behind. Clinton stayed for about 20 minutes and, when she spoke, noted her support for children's rights. The New York senator also highlighted a chapter in her book, "It Takes a Village," that talks about every child needing a champion. She...

Columbia, S.C. (AP) -- Two black South Carolina ministers listed by Barack Obama's campaign as endorsing his White House bid say they did no such thing, and at least two others affirmed their support only after being contacted by campaign workers when questions were raised about their endorsements. Earlier this month, Obama's campaign released a list of what it said were nearly 130 senior pastors in South Carolina endorsing his run for the Democratic nomination. But when contacted by The Associated Press, several ministers said they have yet to decide who will get their vote and were unclear how they...

A group that opposes interaction between religion and government Tuesday accused Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. of violating federal tax law by using the school's resources to endorse Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. The group also asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate. In a complaint filed with the IRS, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU) noted that Falwell hosted the former Arkansas governor at a university event last Wednesday in Lynchburg, Va,

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton made what some called a “gutsy move” this past week when she appeared at a conservative evangelical megachurch to talk about AIDS. Sat, Dec. 01, 2007 Posted: 20:17:22 PM EST Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton made what some called a “gutsy move” this past week when she appeared at a conservative evangelical megachurch to talk about AIDS. Initially, some felt ill at ease over the New York senator’s appearance at the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church hosted by Saddleback Valley Community Church because of her support for abortion and gay rights, which most...

The Bible is against abortion. Hillary is for killing womb babies. The Bible is against active homosexuality. Hillary endorses sodomy. The Bible is against other gods than God. Hillary is polytheistic in that any deity is fine for her. Yet Hillary quotes then from the Bible in a sanctuary. So what’s new? Per AP, “Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton used an appearance at one of the nation’s largest evangelical churches Thursday to sketch a broad agenda to take on disease around the globe, calling it ‘the right thing to do.’ “The centerpiece of a speech laced with Biblical references and reflections...

ABC News' Eloise Harper: For the first time the press has been invited to join New York Senator Hillary Clinton on an outing to church - a woman led the congregation, Associate Pastor Rev Jill Flyr. Coincidently the topic of the sermon was the Children's Defense Fund - a cause familiar to Clinton - and one she brings up regularly while campaigning. Flyr said to the audience in her sermon ""let the candidates know that they need to be strong advocates for children." Bonnie Campbell, the owner of the church, served in the Clinton administration as Head of the Violence...

LAKE FOREST, Calif. – Within days of introducing a $50 billion plan to combat AIDS, Sen. Hillary Clinton received a standing ovation at one of the nation's most influential evangelical churches after addressing its "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church" today. If the Democratic presidential frontrunner's aim was to make inroads into the heavily Republican evangelical electorate, her appearance at Saddleback Church with pastor and "The Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren apparently didn't hurt. Saddleback Church member Cindy Logan told WND after Clinton spoke to some 1,700 conference attendees that as a Republican, the senator's visit was "a...

Senator Clinton (D-New York) was one of several speakers to attend this week's AIDS summit at Pastor Rick Warren's church in California. During her speech on Thursday to the crowd of more than a thousand people, Clinton vowed to fight what some refer to as the "global AIDS pandemic" and pledged to spend $50 million on HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention worldwide if elected president. According to Reuters News, Clinton said to warm applause: "I know the power of faith and the people of faith. Together, I believe we can write the next chapter in this history." And she had much...

LAKE FOREST, Calif. – Within days of introducing a $50 billion plan to combat AIDS, Sen. Hillary Clinton received a standing ovation at one of the nation's most influential evangelical churches after addressing its "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church." If the Democratic presidential frontrunner's aim was to make inroads into the electorate's heavily Republican evangelical community, her appearance at Saddleback Church with pastor and "The Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren apparently didn't hurt.

"Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., takes the stage with area church members during a campaign stop Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007, in Spartanburg, S.C. Clinton picked up endorsements from dozens of black ministers Tuesday in South Carolina."

NOTE: does Jesus love you attacking your husband's assault victims, Hillary? Does Jesus love you lying about Peter Paul? Does Jesus love your secret police? ================================================ Clinton Starts Campaign Day With Prayer 4 hours ago DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton started a long day of campaigning by attending church, where she sang "Jesus Loves Me," "Where Children Belong" and other hymns. Before Sunday's service at Grace United Methodist Church, the Democratic presidential candidate stood in the lobby and greeted dozens of people, shaking hands and posing for photographs. She was greeted by warm clapping during the children's...

After an extensive audit, the Internal Revenue Service has exonerated Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson of accusations from liberal watchdog groups that he violated his organization's non-profit status by endorsing GOP candidates -- including President Bush -- during the 2004 election. "No dings. No criticisms. Not a single allegation was found to have substance," Dobson said regarding charges made against him in 2005 by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Citizens Project, a Colorado group that states its purpose is "creating a community valuing diversity, equality and religious freedom." [ snip ] CREW's original complaint,...

The IRS closed a nearly 12-month audit of Focus on the Family and Dr. James C. Dobson by affirming that the organization committed no wrongdoing. The investigation, which ended last week, was sparked by allegations from two groups that routinely bash conservatives: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. In particular, CREW falsely accused Focus on the Family and Dr. Dobson, in his capacity as the head of Focus, of electioneering by endorsing candidates for public office. It called on the IRS to conduct a "full-scale investigation" and to revoke...

Speaking to Sunday church congregants in New Orleans, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama invoked Jesus' Sermon on the Mount days before the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. "Getting ready to talk to you today, I recall what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount," Obama said at New Orleans' First Emmanuel Baptist Church. "He said, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock." "The rains descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. But it...

NEW ORLEANS - Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday the country cannot fail New Orleans again and that as president, he would keep the city in mind every day. "The words never again cannot be another empty phrase," he said in front of one of the few rebuilt houses he saw on a brief tour of the city's Gentilly Woods section. "It cannot become another broken promise." Obama is the first of several presidential candidates from both parties who are set to visit New Orleans in connection with the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday. President Bush also is expected...

WICHITA, Kan. — The pastor of a conservative Christian church being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service said the threat of losing its tax-exempt status will not stop the church from fighting abortion. “We will continue regardless of what the IRS does,” said Rev. Mark Holick, pastor of Spirit One Christian Center. “We will continue to obey the Lord.” Holick told reporters Aug. 16 that the church, which has about 150 members, is being investigated for political involvement simply because it speaks against abortion. He called the investigation a violation of the church’s First Amendment rights. Under federal tax law,...

MEMPHIS, TENN. - The choir of the First Baptist Church had just finished swaying, clapping and singing gospel and praise music when John Edwards took the stage. "The Lord was in your voices, and we could feel it," Edwards said, sounding more like a preacher than a Democratic presidential candidate. Democrats have long talked about spirituality in African-American churches. But the crowd of 300 packed into a secondhand store run by the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association building this month was largely white. And Edwards, like the other major Democratic presidential candidates, is talking more about spirituality than in the past. He...

New research revealed how largely Protestant clergy and laity differ about religion and politics. For the most part, however, both groups say their church is not heavily involved in local and national political issues. Phoenix-based Ellison Research conducted two studies for Facts & Trends magazine on Protestant church ministers and adults who attend Protestant churches at least once a month who were asked about their personal political views and how appropriate it is for churches to be politically involved. Measured on their involvement in local politics, 6 percent of ministers said their church was very involved, 36 percent of said...

WASHINGTON - Nearly two years after a controversial decision to investigate the NAACP for criticizing President Bush during the 2004 presidential campaign, the Internal Revenue Service has ruled that the remarks did not violate the group's tax-exempt status. In a letter released Thursday by the NAACP, the IRS said the group, the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization, "continued to qualify" as tax-exempt. Federal law requires tax-exempt nonprofit organizations to be politically nonpartisan. "It was an enormous threat," NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said of the investigation. The opposite outcome, he said, "would have reduced our income remarkably." Bond reiterated...

Ned Lamont (R) addresses the crowd with rverand Al Sharpton (L). In the most closely-watched vote of the 2006 US midterm elections, incumbent Joseph Lieberman is poised to go down in defeat to businessman Lamont in primary balloting to be held Tuesday(AFP/Getty Images/File/Bob Falcetti) Sen. Joseph Lieberman, left, hugs former Sen. Max Cleland, of Georgia, right, during a campaign stop at the East Haven Community Center in East Haven, Conn., Sunday Aug. 6, 2006. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Today: July 18, 2006 at 6:30:28 PDT IRS Warns Churches to Avoid Campaigning ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Internal Revenue Service has been warning churches and nonprofit organizations that improper campaigning in the upcoming political season could endanger their tax-exempt status. In notices to more than 15,000 tax-exempt organizations, numerous church denominations and tax preparers, the agency has detailed its new enforcement program, called the Political Activity Compliance Initiative, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. Under the initiative, the IRS plans to expedite investigations into claims of improper campaigning, no longer waiting for an annual tax return to...

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Internal Revenue Service has been warning churches and nonprofit organizations that improper campaigning in the upcoming political season could endanger their tax-exempt status. In notices to more than 15,000 tax-exempt organizations, numerous church denominations and tax preparers, the agency has detailed its new enforcement program, called the Political Activity Compliance Initiative, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. Under the initiative, the IRS plans to expedite investigations into claims of improper campaigning, no longer waiting for an annual tax return to be filed or the tax year to end before launching a probe. A three-member committee will make an initial review of complaints and then vote on whether to pursue the investigation in detail. "While the vast majority of charities and churches do not engage in politicking, an increasing number did take part in prohibited activities in the 2004 election cycle," IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said in a statement. "The rule against political campaign intervention by charities and churches is long established. We are stepping up our efforts to enforce it." Since 2004, the IRS has investigated more than 200 organizations, including All Saints Church in Pasadena. Two days before the 2004 presidential election, the Rev. George F. Regas, the church's former rector, delivered a guest sermon that pictured Jesus in a debate with George W. Bush and John Kerry. Although Regas didn't endorse a candidate, he said Jesus would have told Bush that his pre-emptive war policy "has led to disaster." The church drew national attention when the Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints, disclosed the IRS investigation and later said the agency believed the church had violated federal tax code barring tax-exempt organizations from intervening in political campaigns and elections. Church leaders have not heard from the IRS since October, when the agency said the investigation was being taken to a higher level, according to Regas. The IRS has not confirmed whether the investigation is still ongoing. Of the 62 organizations determined by the IRS to be in violation, three lost their nonprofit status and 59 received warning letters. The three who lost their status were not churches, and some of those warned were ordered to pay an excise tax. Federal law prohibits the IRS from releasing the names of those under investigation, but the agency said it has more than 100 cases pending and 40 of them are churches. This month, OMB Watch, a Washington-based nonprofit government watchdog group, issued a report criticizing the IRS enforcement program and said the program could prompt retaliatory and harassment complaints unless the agency develops clear guidelines. "I don't think this is a case of bad faith," said Kay Guinane, author of the report. "I just think it's a poorly structured program."</p>

The lawyer for a Christian advocacy group in Maine said Wednesday that his client will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to let it air political ads targeting Maine's Republican senators. The Maine Christian Civic League is challenging a new federal law that prohibits targeted ads within 30 days of an election - Maine's June 13 primary in this case. The League announced plans to appeal after a three-judge federal court unanimously rejected its bid to air ads supporting a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage. The group raised $3,992 to broadcast radio ads that say Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan...

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean's recent comments calling on groups in the religious community "to decide whether they want to be tax exempt or involved in politics" drew the ire of a Catholic-based advocacy group on Friday. Dean's remarks were made during an interview with the Christian Science Monitor on Wednesday. "Howard Dean's statement makes it clear that he wants to muzzle America's churches and religious groups from professing what they believe on important issues facing our society," said Joseph Cella, president of Fidelis, a Catholic-based advocacy organization. "When it comes to debates over public policy and issues, Dean...

Howard Dean to Churches: Give up Religion or Stay out of Politics to Keep Tax Exempt Status CHELSEA, MI, April 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Fidelis, a national Catholic based advocacy group, called on Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee to explain himself after telling the Christian Science Monitor Wednesday that "The religious community has to decide whether they want to be tax exempt or involved in politics." Fidelis President Joseph Cella responded: "Howard Dean's statement makes it clear that he wants to muzzle America's churches and religious groups from professing what they believe on important issues facing our...

In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor on the upcoming elections, Doctor Dean says the following: "The religious community has to decide whether they want to be tax exempt or involved in politics." Translation: you uppity conservative churches had better shut your mouths or I'm sending the tax man after you, and we'll have a ball seizing property. Never mind that you're acting on your convictions and trying to save your churches from the rot we in DC, LA, and NY are bringing you. Shut Up or Pay Up...

Recently the Internal Revenue Service released a report showing that nearly three quarters of 82 tax-exempt groups investigated during the 2004 elections took part in prohibited political activity. But now, churches and nonprofit organizations have a new resource to help keep them out of trouble with the IRS. The IRS says several of the organizations and churches will probably lose their tax-exempt status, a fact that will very likely affect future contributions to these groups. In an effort to help churches, ministries, and other faith-based institutions avoid such errors, The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties organization, has issued guidelines...

Just as they did following the memorial service for Sen. Paul Wellstone in 2002, Republican operatives and their acolytes in the media are now claiming that there was something inappropriate about the manner of how those who best knew Coretta Scott King mourned her passing. So great is the determination to protect George Bush from even the mildest expressions of dissent that commentators rushed to television studios Tuesday even before the service for King was over to denounce former President Jimmy Carter, the Rev. Joseph Lowery and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin for expressing sentiments not usually heard by this president....

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A group of religious leaders from nine denominations have accused two evangelical churches of improperly promoting an Ohio candidate for governor and want the Internal Revenue Service to investigate. The 31 leaders from central Ohio met on Jan. 15 and signed a letter asking the IRS to determine if the churches should lose tax-exempt status because of their support for Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, one of three Republicans seeking the nomination. The Rev. Rod Parsley of World Harvest Church in Columbus and the Rev. Russell Johnson of Fairfield Christian Church in Lancaster improperly used their churches...

Group doesn’t invite other gubernatorial candidates to meeting Wednesday, January 18, 2006 Joe Hallett THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH BOB ROSSITER | THE ( CANTON ) REPOSITORY Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, left, greets Supreme Court Justice Terrence O’Donnell, center, and the Rev. Bill Lavely, president of Ohio Restoration Project, after a luncheon of Christian conservatives in Hartville, Ohio. HARTVILLE, Ohio — Republican gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell told conservative religious leaders yesterday not to be deterred from political participation by a federal complaint filed by 31 Columbus-area pastors. "You tell those 31 bullies that you aren’t about to be whupped,"...