LHF Ministries
  • Home
  • Walking With God
  • Connie's Insights
  • Zoo Doodles

Franklin Graham Calls IRS Probe of Ministry Finances ‘Un-American’

5/17/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Evangelist Franklin Graham blasted the Internal Revenue Service probe of conservative nonprofit groups as “un-American,” saying both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the relief group Samaritan’s Purse were audited by the IRS.

In a Tuesday letter to President Obama, Graham said the two organizations he leads were notified last September that the IRS would review their records for the 2010 tax year.

The IRS inquiry, he noted, occurred months after the BGEA ran ads in April 2012 supporting a North Carolina amendment that banned same-sex marriage, which passed in May. The BGEA also ran ads last fall urging voters to consider candidates who make decisions based on “biblical principles and support the nation of Israel.”

Graham noted that the ads were bought with designated funds given by ministry donors for that purpose.

The IRS audits were conducted on Oct. 15 at Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organization based in Boone, N.C., and on Oct. 29 at the BGEA, in Charlotte.

“I am bringing this to your attention because I believe that someone in the Administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us,” wrote Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham. “This is morally wrong and unethical—indeed some would call it ‘un-American.’”

A Treasury Department inspector general recently determined  that “inappropriate criteria” were used by the IRS when considering the applications of Tea Party and other organizations that were applying for tax-exempt status.

“I do not believe that the IRS audit of our two organizations last year is a coincidence—or justifiable,’’ wrote Graham, who last year apologized to the president for seeming to question Obama’s Christian faith.

He said his organizations learned after the fall election that they could continue to be tax-exempt. But Graham said the audits “wasted taxpayer money” and “precious resources.”

The White House and the IRS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a Tuesday statement, President Obama called the findings of the Treasury watchdog’s report “intolerable and inexcusable” and said he wants those responsible to be held accountable.

Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State said after last year’s electoral endorsements by the Grahams, Franklin Graham has no grounds to complain.

“Franklin Graham is now complaining to the media that he was targeted by the IRS. Well, in light of those ads he should have been,” Boston said.  “My only regret was that the IRS didn’t yank his ministries’ tax-exempt status.”
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Walter Blackwood

    Associate Pastor with The Bridge Community of Faith in Kelowna BC Canada. 

    Donate Now Through CanadaHelps.org!
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    May 2017
    July 2016
    June 2016
    January 2016
    June 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    September 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012

    RSS Feed

All content © Kelowna Full Gospel Church Society
Donate Now Through CanadaHelps.org!
  • Home
  • Walking With God
  • Connie's Insights
  • Zoo Doodles