GOP Requests Church Directories

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/17/AR2006021701978.html>

"The North Carolina Republican Party asked its members this week to send their church directories to the party, drawing furious protests from local and national religious leaders.

"Such a request is completely beyond the pale of what is acceptable," said the Rev. Richard Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention."

<snip>

"Chris Mears, the state party's political director, made the request in a Feb. 15 memo titled "The pew and the ballot box" that was sent by e-mail to "Registered Republicans in North Carolina."

Mears said the "Republican National Committee has completed a study on grass-roots activity that reveals that people who regularly attend church usually vote Republican when they vote."

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If the GOP is doing this, the DNC needs to organize sign waving across the street from
mega-churches.

or sue churches that comply with republican requests (or seek ending tax exempt status).

If everybody wants to get involved in politics, including churches, then they shouldn't enjoy tax-exempt status like no political organization is allowed.

members of the church and not the leadership. That would isolate the church from charges of impropriety.

infiltrating these Churches with recording devices, catching them in the act of talking (basically Republican) politics from the pulpit and then running to a)the media, b) the IRS or c) our Democratic Senator (or whatever) and having their Tax Exempt Status revoked? Just curious as to why the DNC or the DLC or what-have-you isn't more on the ball with stopping this blatant abuse of the system. (sigh)

The left leaning churches, partially the black churches, use their pulpits all the time for politics.

I would not start pointing fingers too quickly. Four are pointing back at you.

Obviously, blatant disregard for IRS 501 {c}3 should be looked into regardless of the political affiliation.

It doesn't happen as often as you think. Pastors are very protective of their tax free status.

and start doing similar things in a grass roots organization.

There is nothing illegal about asking someone to send you a membership list. As a member of a church, when you agree to participate in the church organization, you have given that information freely. As long as any party that assess the information and does not sell it or use it to solicit. it's not illegal.

Both parties do this all the freaking time, building membership lists from all types of organizations of their base voters to reach out to them.

Just because it's a "church" everybody gets their panties in a wad.

No wonder we get our asses kicked