Atheist Group Asks IRS To Strip Tax-Exempt Status from Megachurch After Political Endorsement From Pulpit
The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) is asking the IRS to remove the tax-exempt status from Calvary Chapel Chino Hills church after Senior pastor Jack Hibbs seemingly made a political endorsement of former MLB player Steve Garvey to the California Senate from the pulpit, a violation of their 501(c)(3) status. In a letter sent to the IRS they explain:
On Sunday, February 25, 2024, Pastor Jack Hibbs once again used his Sunday service to endorse a political candidate, telling his congregation to “vote for Steve Garvey” in the upcoming CA primary
I want to publicly right now, today, encourage all of you to vote for Steve Garvey. You gotta vote for Steve Garvey. It’s against the law for me to, I just remembered it’s against the law for me to say that in the pulpit so…
He then stepped away from the pulpit before continuing:
As a public citizen, Steve Garvey is not only one of the greatest baseball players of all time, but we want Steve Garvey to represent us in the senate and so Steve Garvey is your only, is the only guy on the ballot. Um, so there, that was legal. I just had to move from here to there.”
Any church that becomes a registered 501(c)(3) must abide by certain restrictions lest they lose their tax-exempt status. According to the IRS code, an organization cannot “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.”
The FFTF states that Calvary Chapel Chino Hills has “breached the responsibilities of its tax-exempt status by openly endorsing a candidate for elected office” and “respectfully request that the IRS immediately investigate Calvary Chapel Chino Hills and ensure that it no longer receives the benefits of 501(c)(3) status and that donations made to the church are no longer treated as tax deductible.”
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Pastors do need to be careful to not overtly endorse candidates/political parties, especially in a society increasingly hostile to God and His church…
To would have been wiser (difficult as it is for one so mislead by Dispensationalism, I know) simply compare the platform of the candidates without even associating names with the particular positions.
Nonetheless, the IRS has never prosecuted a case such as this but who knows with the regime that is currently in charge ? Their focus on the insurrectionists of Jan 6 could change in a heartbeat
Perhaps he wouldn’t be so misled if he believed that God and Jesus were just allegories, or the cross and the gospel are just metaphors.
Black churches do this all the time. Many pulpits in the black church are nothing more than a megaphone of the democratic party.