Atheist Group Demands IRS Investigate Church Because of a Trump Rally
An atheist group wants the IRS sicced on a Miami church that hosted a Trump rally on Friday night.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is attacking the King Jesus Ministry in Miami, which hosted Friday’s “Evangelicals for Trump” rally.
“In urging congregants to come to a political rally, and in hosting the political rally, King Jesus Ministry appears to have inappropriately used its religious organization and 501(c)(3) status by intervening in a political campaign,” FFRF legal director Rebecca Markert wrote to the IRS, the organization said on its website.
“It violated IRS regulations by seemingly expressing its support for a candidate in the November 2020 presidential election,” she said.
The group was particularly outraged by a comment from Pastor Guillermo Maldonado that appeared in the Miami Herald.
Maldonado had billed the event, which included 70 Christian pastors, as a chance to “talk” to and “influence” Trump. He urged his congregation, which includes illegal immigrants, to attend.
“Don’t put your race or your nationality over being a Christian. Be mature,” he said. “If you want to come, do it for your pastor. That’s a way of supporting me.”
“You don’t have to be a citizen. And I will give you an affirmation as your spiritual father and your pastor. First, someone said, ‘But how can you bring Trump to church if there’s people who don’t have papers?’” he said. “I ask you: Do you think I would do something where I would endanger my people? I’m not that dumb.”
“It would be hard to imagine a more overt and flagrant violation of ethics and the IRS code than this planned rally,” FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said.
“FFRF respectfully requests that the IRS commence an immediate investigation into King Jesus Ministry’s violation of IRS regulations prohibiting 501(c)(3) organizations from participating in or intervening in a political campaign. The IRS should take appropriate action to remedy any violations that occurred or which continue to occur,” the group said in its letter.
Other critics attacked the rally as well.
Domingo García, head of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said “Latinos everywhere are concerned by President Trump’s fake Christian campaign rally at a Latino Evangelical Church that serves a large undocumented population in South Florida,” according to The Hill.
Evangelicals for @realDonaldTrump are out in full force in Miami!#EvangelicalsForTrump pic.twitter.com/g04G9muUUk
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) January 3, 2020
Ready to launch Evangelicals for @realDonaldTrump in Miami, Florida!!! pic.twitter.com/v9EqejTHY8
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) January 3, 2020
During the event, Trump spoke about the support he receives from evangelical Christians.
“For America to thrive in the 21st century, we must renew faith and family as the center of American life,” Trump said, according to CBS News.
He also lashed out at his critics.
“Our opponents want to shut out God from the public square,” Trump said, as Bloomberg reported. “We’re going to defeat the radical Washington Democrats.”
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