[CTRL] Fwd: Falwell's 'People Of Faith 2000' Campaign Serves Partisan Agenda, Americ...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 14, 2000 Contact: Joseph Conn or Rob Boston 202-466-3234 202-466-2587 fax www.au.org FALWELL'S 'PEOPLE OF FAITH 2000' CAMPAIGN SERVES PARTISAN AGENDA, WATCHDOG GROUP CHARGES IRS SHOULD LAUNCH INVESTIGATION OF SHADY POLITICAL SCHEME, SAYS AMERICANS UNITED Religious Right leader Jerry Falwell's election-year project is a partisan political scheme that warrants an Internal Revenue Service investigation, according to a national church-state watchdog group. Today, Falwell formally launched his "People of Faith 2000" project, an initiative he claims will raise up to $25 million to register 10 million religious conservatives between now and November. The effort is a project of Falwell's new tax-exempt organization, the Liberty Alliance Institute, a spin-off group of his Jerry Falwell Ministries, that will distribute voter registration materials to pastors and individual church members. Federal law prohibits tax-exempt institutions from conducting voter registration drives in a partisan manner. Based on Falwell's own remarks, there can be little doubt that the "People of Faith 2000" project is a scheme to help elect presidential candidate George W. Bush and other Republican candidates, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a watchdog group and longtime critic of Falwell. "Jerry Falwell is abusing tax-exempt religious ministries to push a partisan political agenda," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "This project is not a noble campaign designed to simply register more Americans to vote. It is a highly partisan drive that Falwell admits is intended to help put Gov. Bush in the White House." Falwell admitted his partisan motivation for the project in an interview with USA Today published on March 23. "It is my experience that most people of faith in this country vote pro-family, pro-life, and that will mean George W. Bush," Falwell said in describing the importance of his project. "If I'm right, the Republicans are going to feel a very positive result from this from the top to the bottom of the ticket." Additionally, Falwell told Beliefnet.com, an online religion news website, that he introduced his election year project quickly because "another four years of Clinton-Gore would devastate this country." In fact, Falwell has made no effort to hide his enthusiasm for Bush. On March 3, Falwell told supporters, "[W]e must have unity if we hope to win in November. The goal, as we all know, is to ensure that Al Gore does not sit in the Oval Office come January." On March 16, he told a national television audience he supports Bush "all the way." While giving his opinion of the Log Cabin Republicans (a gay GOP group), Falwell told CNN on March 5, "I think that they're living an immoral lifestyle, but I'd much rather they vote for George Bush than Al Gore." AU's Lynn said, "Falwell is free to support Republicans as an individual, but trying to use churches and tax-exempt ministries for this purpose is deceitful and probably illegal." Despite the obviously partisan agenda of the project, Falwell has acknowledged that he has already raised $1 million for the effort from business interests that have been offered a tax deduction because the money has been raised through Falwell's tax-exempt organization. "This stinks to high heaven," Lynn added. "As Falwell is well aware, tax-deductible donations to a religious ministry are not supposed to be diverted to partisan political projects. This warrants an immediate investigation." Lynn also noted that there is a precedent for the IRS severely penalizing a tax-exempt group that undertook a campaign similar to Falwell's project. In 1990 the IRS revoked the tax exemption of a non-profit group (whose name is kept confidential by the IRS) that sought to register conservative voters in advance of the 1984 election. The organization had stated that its goal was to register 1 million conservative voters as part of an effort to re-elect Ronald Reagan, and the IRS determined this to be unlawful intervention in a political campaign. Falwell already has a history of sidestepping federal tax law prohibitions concerning churches and politics. The Internal Revenue Service punished Falwell's Old Time Gospel Hour in 1993 when it discovered that funds were illegally funneled from Falwell's group to a political action committee. Falwell was forced to pay $50,000 and the Old Time Gospel Hour's tax-exempt status was pulled retroactively for 1986-87. "No religious leader should take legal advice from someone who obviously has trouble following the law himself," Lynn concluded. "Falwell may be desperate to regain political power and influence, but using religious groups and ignoring tax law is the wrong way to do it." Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization represents 60,000 members and allied houses of worship in all 50
Re: [CTRL] Fwd: Falwell's 'People Of Faith 2000' Campaign Serves Partisan Agenda, Americ...
Does Revvin' Jerri fancy himself to be some sort of American Pope or something? This becomes rather bizarre inasmuch as he preaches, and he teaches, and he reaches, and he beseeches, and he ... anyway, his paradigm role model spiritual hero saviour type entity didn't get much involved with politics, in fact tales told tell he spake at the infernal angel that worldly things and matters and concerns were not part of the program ... Revvin' Jerry, the little cherub- faced fellow from Lib U, pastor of a small congregation of 20K souls, sure likes that institutionalised bureaucratic Earth-bound political machinery ... gets his hands dirty like them common working folk and gets him on Geraldo at any rate. Given what happened to the Christian Coalition and its tax free- ness, he ought to give more thought to what is written rather than to what he imagines. Of course, in a sinking lifeboat, more buckets seem to be a good solution (until the weight is factored) ... AER Subject: [CTRL] Fwd: Falwell's 'People Of Faith 2000' Campaign Serves Partisan Agenda, Americ... To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"www.ctrl.org/A DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html"Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]/A http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/"ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
Re: [CTRL] Fwd: Falwell's 'People Of Faith 2000' Campaign Serves Partisan Agenda, Americ...
Dear Alamaine -- The "re-rise" of Jerry Foolwell is related to one thing:
stopping the rise of Pat Buchanan. Fallwell's job will be to keep as many
religious conservatives, against their better judgement, in the Bush camp.
That's all. The Ruling Elite is so afraid of PJB and the anti-WTO coalition
coalescing behind him --that they are willing to destroy forever Falwell's
credibility here with all but the totally brain-dead evangelicals (which may
be a large group). Falwell in one of his last hoorahs anyway due to age.
BUT -- the tip off is that Falwell REPEATEDLY said he would never enter
politics again, and that he had "finished what he set out to do" by 1987.
Along these lines, did you notice that Establishment shill Zogby is putting
out phony polls that Nader is pulling twice as much as Pat Buchanan -- but
both Nader and Buchanan, or course, are insignificant compared to those
OH-SO-POPULAR Gore and Bush.
Of course, the Reform Party leaders will lose, and deserve to lose, if they
don't challenge the phony Big TV network polls and the computerized vote
count. Jim Condit Jr.
-Original Message-
From: Conspiracy Theory Research List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of Alamaine
Sent: Friday, April 14, 2000 6:35 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [CTRL] Fwd: Falwell's 'People Of Faith 2000' Campaign
Serves Partisan Agenda, Americ...
Does Revvin' Jerri fancy himself to be some sort of American Pope
or something?
This becomes rather bizarre inasmuch as he preaches, and he
teaches, and he
reaches, and he beseeches, and he ... anyway, his paradigm role
model spiritual
hero saviour type entity didn't get much involved with politics,
in fact tales
told tell he spake at the infernal angel that worldly things and
matters and
concerns were not part of the program ... Revvin' Jerry, the
little cherub-
faced fellow from Lib U, pastor of a small congregation of 20K souls, sure
likes that institutionalised bureaucratic Earth-bound political
machinery ...
gets his hands dirty like them common working folk and gets him
on Geraldo at
any rate. Given what happened to the Christian Coalition and its
tax free-
ness, he ought to give more thought to what is written rather
than to what he
imagines. Of course, in a sinking lifeboat, more buckets seem to
be a good
solution (until the weight is factored) ... AER
Subject: [CTRL] Fwd: Falwell's 'People Of Faith
2000' Campaign Serves
Partisan
Agenda, Americ...
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
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DECLARATION DISCLAIMER
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propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These
are sordid
matters
and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, misdirections
and outright
fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and
minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always
suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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DECLARATION DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid
matters
and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
Archives Available at:
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