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A Project of Big Brother Church Watch info@bigbrotherchurchwatch.org
Posted on 10/18/2004 8:59:48 AM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
Please use this website to report any churches who allow liberals to illegally solicit votes from a pulpit. They will lose their tax exempt status. We need to do this. Below is their mission statement:
Why we are doing this
RatOutaChurch.org
A project of Big Brother Church Watch
OUR IMMEDIATE AND URGENT PURPOSE
Our immediate purpose is to fight back against vicious left-wing attempts to silence conservative, Bible believing pastors. Every election year, liberal groups have a field day intimidating and harassing conservative pastors into silence, while liberal pastors bring in their favorite politicians and shamelessly campaign for them with impunity. This unequal treatment needs to stop! We intend to make some liberal pastors, who think they can endorse candidates from their pulpits in perfect safety, start to feel the heat conservative Bible believing pastors do. How? We are actively recruiting volunteers to attend services of churches known to have liberal leanings and report to us anything said from the pulpit that may be construed as “endorsement” of a candidate. We intend to file complaints with the IRS against these churches that overtly endorse candidates or who use “code words” to tell congregations to vote for a specific party.
OUR LONG TERM GOALS
Is this a good situation, to have Americans spying on one another in churches in order to report to the Federal government what is said from the pulpit? No, and it is shameful that the ACLU began the process. It is even more shameful that Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson inserted language into an IRS funding bill that took away freedom of speech from America’s spiritual leaders in 1954. It is tragic for our Republic that the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State began a “snitch” system to silence conservative Bible believing pastors. A long term solution would be passing the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act into law. It is our long term goal to return complete freedom of speech to the pulpit by removing the language from the Internal Revenue service code which was inserted there in the 1950’s. We support the passage of the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act as authored by Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC). This bill would return total freedom of speech to America’s pastors. The passage of HR -235 would make spies for the ACLU and Americans United a thing of the past and would restore the freedom of speech our churches have lost.
WHY BIG BROTHER CHURCH WATCH IS NECESSARY
Most Americans have probably forgotten, if they ever knew, that for about the first 150 years of our nation’s existence, pastors in the United States could freely speak from the pulpit about any social issue or public figure, guided only by their conscience and their interpretation of Scripture. The movement for abolition of slavery started in the churches and was driven by fiery preachers who spoke their minds on this controversial “political issue” and urged their congregations to vote for abolitionist candidates. For many years afterward, Americans in their local churches never gave a thought to the possibility that the government might interfere with what was said within the walls of their places of worship. That all changed in 1954 when then Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson found a sneaky way to silence preachers who were critical of him and his policies. He slipped in an amendment stating churches under 501c3 of the Internal Revenue Code may not endorse candidates or try to affect legislation. *
For years, Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), along with the ACLU, has used the IRS as a hammer to wield against Bible believing Christians, particularly in election years. If Barry Lynn seems to have close ties with the ACLU, it is because he was a counsel for the ACLU before starting his own organization, the AU. The ACLU and Barry Lynn have a nationwide network of spies (they are recruited as “monitors”) who go into churches for the express purpose of catching pastors saying anything remotely “political,” so they can report the pastors to the IRS. They target pastors who have the courage to proclaim what the Bible says about moral issues like abortion and homosexual “marriage.” According to their twisted interpretation, espousing a moral view is said to be the same as endorsing a candidate who holds the same view. Under those conditions, what issue of public morality can a pastor possibly address?
The Christian Coalition was sued for distributing voter guides, which merely listed the voting record of candidates, a matter of public record. Although they eventually prevailed in court, it was only after a long and expensive legal battle. Still today, Barry Lynn sends out warnings to churches telling them they can get into trouble for distributing voter guides. And every election year the ACLU writes to pastors of conservative churches, trying to intimidate them with warnings about political statements.
In July of 2004 the AU filed a complaint against Dr. Jerry Falwell with the IRS because Falwell wrote a column endorsing President Bush, and sent it out as an e-mail as well as posting it on the website of his 501( c ) ( 4 ) organization. Dr. Falwell rightly claims that even a preacher, as a private citizen, has the right to express personal views. But the liberal “watchdogs” like Barry Lynn of course want to completely silence conservative religious leaders.
Another victim on the AU hit list is Bishop Michael Sheridan, who told Catholics that to vote for a candidate known to hold certain unbiblical views, is to be complicit with that candidate in breaking God’s laws. It is a very logical position, but it brought down on the Bishop the wrath of the AU, which ran screaming to the IRS.
Barry Lynn lies when he says his group is impartial and bi partisan. On his website he has a special section hysterically warning about the Religious Right, which he calls the “greatest threat,” and there is a plea for volunteers to “research the religious right.” By “research” they mean search websites, publications and electronic media for any instance where they can catch a religious right leader making a political statement which they can report to the IRS.
This election year another group, the Mainstream Coalition, is bragging about their approximately 100 volunteers who are going into churches to observe and report on what is being said. The Mainstream Coalition has existed for several years, but they came out of the woodwork to begin spying on churches because of the battle over same-sex marriage and the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment. Any pastors who come out in favor of traditional marriage and support the FMA are potential targets.
* For purposes of IRC Section 501(c)(3), legislative activities and political activities are two different things, and are subject to two different sets of rules. The latter is an absolute bar. An IRC Section 501(c)(3) organization may not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office. Whether an organization is engaging in prohibited political campaign activity depends upon all the facts and circumstances in each case. For example, organizations may sponsor debates or forums to educate voters. But if the forum or debate shows a preference for or against a certain candidate, it becomes a prohibited activity. The motivation of an organization is not relevant in determining whether the political campaign prohibition has been violated. Activities that encourage people to vote for or against a particular candidate, even on the basis of non-partisan criteria, violate the political campaign prohibition of IRC Section 501(c)(3). See the FY-2002 CPE topic entitled Election Year Issues for further information regarding political activities of charities.
Conservative News Wire
A Project of Big Brother Church Watch info@bigbrotherchurchwatch.org
I submitted the church that John Edwards was at yesterday. Any others?
thank you for the info on this.
Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!
give me some to rat out...Im so far behind on reading folks because of my illness...HELP
ping- may need for future use
Good idea, but probably a waste of time. The current crop of pubbies doesn't have the huevos to deal with Rat churches.
BTTT
I did the Edwards campaign in Daytona yesterday, and someone did Al Sharpton pimping Kerry votes in Detroit. Best thing to do is see the schedule for Kery/Edwards and you will find them.
Do we know who runs this organization? It makes me nervous to send info to a website without knowing who is behind it. If I missed the info, my apologies.
This is great.Thanks!
Domain ID:D104671284-LROR
Domain Name:RATOUTACHURCH.ORG
Created On:25-Jul-2004 16:41:14 UTC
Last Updated On:24-Sep-2004 03:49:08 UTC
Expiration Date:25-Jul-2005 16:41:14 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Network Solutions LLC (R63-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:20839550-NSI
Registrant Name:Shannan Burke
Registrant Organization:Religious Freedom Coalition
Registrant Street1:PO Box 7416
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Fredericksbrg
Registrant State/Province:VA
Registrant Postal Code:22404-7416
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.5403704200
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:+1.5403704535
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:wjmurray@rfcnet.org
Admin ID:20839550-NSI
Admin Name:Shannan Burke
Admin Organization:Religious Freedom Coalition
Admin Street1:PO Box 7416
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Fredericksbrg
Admin State/Province:VA
Admin Postal Code:22404-7416
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.5403704200
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:+1.5403704535
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:wjmurray@rfcnet.org
Tech ID:20839550-NSI
Tech Name:Shannan Burke
Tech Organization:Religious Freedom Coalition
Tech Street1:PO Box 7416
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Fredericksbrg
Tech State/Province:VA
Tech Postal Code:22404-7416
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.5403704200
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:+1.5403704535
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:wjmurray@rfcnet.org
Name Server:B.NS.INTERLAND.NET
Name Server:A.NS.INTERLAND.NET
This is terrific! Wondered where you could report a church -- think the one that Rev Al spoke at yesterday in Detroit should qualify.
It's a workable strategy. William Donoghue of the Catholic League has also sued a couple of churches. It's the only way to put an end to the one-sided application of an unjust law that was passed by Lyndon Johnson.
Churches should be free to make informed comments on the political scene. As things stand, however, only left-wing comment is allowed. We need to sue these people for breaking the law until the law is finally repealed and freedom of speech is restored to religious people in America. Why should only leftists and secularists be allowed to talk about politics according to their beliefs?
Yep, it got reported by me and italianquaker.
See the link under the comment in the first post, I have it hyperlinked. I will gladly use it. It might not get them removed but the reporting part is fun. Heck, use their own weapons against them! I think they are used to people rolling over and laying dead for them to walk on. I gladly turn the other cheek, but only to reach for my gun :)
On the Daytona - Bush after action report I posted last night I mentioned Roy Hargrave. He does NOT mention a candidate you should vote for, he does not cross the line of the law, but he makes no bones about their positions.
Couldn't liberals do the same thing to conservative churches who do the same thing?
It's about time.
Liberals ALREADY are reporting and brow-beating ANY conservative-leaning political statements more strident than "Go Vote!"
It's the liberals who preach their campaign speeches directly from the pulpit, who use the collection basket, and who are photogrpahed in the front of congregations and churches in campaign ads!
Well it appears in their mission statement above that it is already happening and they are trying to balance the scales. But christian churches I know of are not violating the law like the ones protected by the ACLU, NAACP and others.
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