c. 1996 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)-A church-state watchdog group has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Houston’s Second Baptist Church-an influential, 22,000-member Southern Baptist congregation-for allegedly engaging in partisan political activities in violation of the federal tax code.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Tuesday (March 19) that Second Baptist sponsored a”political operation”designed to bolster the influence of conservative Christians over the Texas presidential convention delegate selection process.

However, Judy Craig, who directed the project for Second Baptist, said Lynn had”mischaracterized”her church’s Nehemiah Project, named for the Old Testament figure who rebuilt Jerusalem in the 5th century B.C.

The Nehemiah Project, Craig said, was nothing more than”an effective way to teach good citizenship”in connection with the March 12 Texas presidential primary and the precinct-level delegate selection conventions also held that day.”Its purpose was to encourage voting and to encourage participation in the party precinct conventions,”Craig said.”Nothing else.” At a Washington news conference, Lynn said Second Baptist distributed material that directed church members to vote at their Republican Party precinct conventions for specific slates of delegates identified as religious conservatives.

One flyer distributed by the church said the object of the Nehemiah Project was to”elect pro-life, pro-family delegates …”It advised church members to”prepare a list of pro-life, pro-family neighbors to be nominated as delegates at your precinct convention.” Lynn said such comments proved that”the stated purpose of the Nehemiah Project is to influence the outcome of elections, and the process by which this effort is to be achieved is deserving of the strictest Internal Revenue Service scrutiny.” But Craig said the church had nothing to do with a second flyer cited by Lynn. In a telephone interview, she said a Second Baptist member, acting on his own, handed out the flyer that gave detailed instructions about how church members could identify”the right slate”to vote for at precinct conventions.”We were very careful about keeping this non-partisan,”said Craig.”We did not discuss specific political issues and we did not even tell people whether to participate in the political process as Republicans or Democrats,”Craig said.

Second Baptist’s senior pastor, the Rev. Ed Young, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, was not available for comment.

Americans United, an independent organization based in Washington, sent a letter to the IRS on Tuesday in which it formally requested a review of Second Baptist’s actions. A spokesman for the IRS said the agency does not comment on tax cases.

Federal tax law precludes churches and other non-profit institutions from supporting or opposing any individual running for any public office. Howard E. Abrams, a tax code specialist and professor at Emory University Law School in Atlanta, said a church attempt to influence the election of presidential convention delegates would likely contradict a strict reading of the law.

However, he also noted that the IRS is generally reluctant to take on such cases.”The agency has made it clear it does not want to interfere in cases involving the practice of religion,”Abrams said.

Americans United was instrumental in getting the IRS to revoke the tax exemption of a church in Vestal, N.Y., that ran newspaper ads during the 1992 presidential campaign that opposed then-candidate Bill Clinton. The congregation, the Church at Pierce Creek, is currently appealing the IRS ruling.

The American Center for Law and Justice, founded by conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, is handling the appeal for the Church at Pierce Creek. Jay Sekulow, the center’s chief counsel, said his organization would also handle the Second Baptist case, should the IRS decide to follow up on the complaint.

Sekulow also had harsh words for Americans United, which he said”is only interested in pushing its own agenda, which is anti-conservative Christian.”I’m waiting for the day when Barry Lynn tells a black African Methodist church in the South to be quiet about social and political issues,”Sekulow said.”But he won’t do that.” At his news conference, Lynn denied that Americans United-known for its attacks on the Christian right-was playing politics itself by going after conservative churches. He said his group seeks to halt partisan activities by all churches, liberal as well as conservative.”This is not about doing damage to fundamentalists and leaving everybody else alone,”Lynn said.

MJP END RIFKIN