IRS urged to revoke tax-exempt status of Billy Graham org over ‘electioneering’
A prominent secular legal organization has asked the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association over alleged violation of election law.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocates for a strict separation of church and state, sent a request to the IRS last week regarding a special edition of the BGEA's Decision magazine that compares the two major party presidential candidates.
According to FFRF, the magazine labels Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris an advocate of "socialism" while Republican former President Donald Trump is labeled a supporter of "freedom."
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The group alleges that the BGEA magazine has "a cherry-picked comparison between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump intended to encourage readers to vote for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris."
"It evidences a clear bias and preference for Donald Trump and Republicans in the upcoming elections and is distributed for the purpose of intervening in these elections," stated the FFRF.
The FFRF accuses the BGEA of violating the Internal Revenue Code's prohibition on nonprofit groups taking part "in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."
"In this instance, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has breached the responsibilities of its tax exempt status by publishing an election guide that gives the clear impression that it favors one candidate over the other and one party over the other," continued the secular group.
"The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is engaging in a blatant violation of its tax-exempt status," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor in a statement on Monday. "The IRS can't permit it to engage in such open electioneering."
The Christian Post reached out to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for this story, with a spokesperson emailing a statement from BGEA President and CEO Franklin Graham, the son of the organization's namesake, the late evangelist Billy Graham.
"This isn't the first time we've been attacked by this activist group, and it won't be the last. I don't tell people who to vote for, but I do encourage Christians to pray and vote," stated Graham.
"I believe we have a responsibility to help people understand where former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris stand on Biblical issues and religious freedom."
Graham went on to state that there was "nothing illegal about encouraging believers to vote for the candidate who best aligns with and stands for Biblical principles."
"Every other group of people in this country has the right to do this — Christians shouldn't be the one group denied that same right," he concluded.
In 2012, the FFRF filed a similar complaint with the IRS against BGEA over a "vote biblical values" ad campaign and other publications from the time that the atheist group claimed were too favorable to then-Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
For their part, the BGEA provided CP with an official statement at the time in which they defended the "vote biblical values" ads as being in step with federal law on electioneering.
"The ads intentionally do not mention any candidate, political party, or contest, urging instead for readers to cast votes for candidates-at all levels-based on their support for biblical values," read the 2012 statement.
The FFRF's latest complaint against the BGEA comes as Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance and his wife Usha visited the graves of Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth, at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday.
