Free Republic

The Rev. Rod Parsley’s World Harvest Church and two affiliates always have obeyed federal tax laws, and an accusation to the contrary by 31 area pastors is "baseless and without merit," World Harvest said yesterday. The 31 complained to the Internal Revenue Service on Sunday, accusing the church, its Center for Moral Clarity and a related group, Reformation Ohio, of violating IRS regulations by engaging in partisan politics. They asked for an IRS investigation of the three as well as two allied entities, Fairfield Christian Church of Lancaster and the Ohio Restoration Project. But in a statement issued by Parsley’s...

More than 30 local pastors last night officially accused two evangelical megachurches of illegal political activities. In a rare and potentially explosive action, the moderate ministers signed a complaint asking the Internal Revenue Service to investigate World Harvest Church of Columbus and Fairfield Christian Church of Lancaster and determine if their tax-exempt status should be revoked. The grievance claims that the Rev. Rod Parsley of World Harvest Church and the Rev. Russell Johnson of Fairfield Christian Church improperly used their churches and affiliated entities — the Center for Moral Clarity, Ohio Restoration Project and Reformation Ohio — for partisan politics,...