Why has this taken so long? I’ve never understood the alliance of religious organizations with the laissez faire stack-the-deck-for-the-rich economic types despite basically no progress at all in the culture wars.
The Columbus Dispatch – Local/State: Churches could face IRS probe
Pastors Parsley, Johnson exploited pulpits to play politics, ministers’ complaint alleges
Monday, January 16, 2006
Mike Harden and Joe Hallett
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, including supporting the Republican gubernatorial candidacy of Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.
The damn Puritans beacon ain’t so shiny.
