Church Vs. IRS: Barry Lynn-An American United with others Against the Constitution

Non-profit Org Uses Tax Exempt Status to Subvert First Amendment

Back to Pastor Wiley

There is an intolerable intolerance on the part of the Leftists who admonish "reasonable" people to disassociate themselves from Pastor Wiley. It appears that some authorities in the Convention may be tempted to bow to the unholy indignation of AUSCS personnel. Will Hall, Vice President for News Services of the SBC Executive Committee and Executive Editor of Baptist Press wrote a message to one of staff members of AUSCS, Joseph Conn, as follows:

You wrote that the position of 'second vice president' is the SBC's 'third highest post.' The fact is the first and second vice presidents are honorary titles...period. Neither has any duties assigned relating to leadership of the Convention. There is no budget for either and neither has any power other than the one vote granted to each messenger attending an SBC annual meeting. The bottom line is your description appears to be an intentional misrepresentation to sensationalize AU's position relative to its public tête-à-tête with Wiley Drake. It is an offense equal to Wiley's having used the honorary title in his personal press releases.[1]

We can hope that Mr. Hall's feeble efforts to distance the SBC from Pastor Drake are a product of momentary battle-phobia (formerly: cowardice). If Pastor Drake's imprecatory prayers for his Godless tormentors are premature in the mind of Mr. Hall, he need not bow to the whines of these AUSCS apostates. Better that he be patient and confirm to Mr. Conn the essential propriety of calling judgment upon the manifest God-haters which the AUSCS represents. May God duly bring his justice to those who despise His Law and display that disdain in their calls for "separation" of His Law and ethics from the political realm, the very kingdom in which we live.

In a February 15 report, the AUSCS noted that "Religious leaders from a wide variety of faiths repudiated the pastor's tactics."[2] The implication is that the crowd must be right. Cut off Pastor Drake from the rest of the hive as the crowd stays together and moves toward a more popular and agreeable environment. Submission to such intimidation leads to betrayal of fellow champions of the faith and, ultimately, betrayal of the very Lord in whom that faith rests.

The AUSCS is led by a man ordained by the United Church of Christ. As this variety of "Christian denominations" has abandoned the historic Faith grounded in the Scripture and defined by the ancient creeds, it is no surprise that this organization is hostile to those who remain true to the Faith and the ethics which are rooted in it.

The organization is not true to its claim to be "dedicated to preserving the Constitutional Rights of religious freedom guaranteed to all Americans in the First Amendment to our Constitution." On the contrary, it seeks to suppress the fact that our Constitution places no restrictions upon churches. The Constitution places restrictions upon the federal government, prohibiting it from interfering with the rights of the states to establish whatever brand of Christianity they choose. That is the meaning of the Constitution as it was written in its historical context.

The AUSCS has 1) perverted the meaning of the First Amendment, 2) chosen to apply a popular misconception of the First Amendment - the "separation of Church and State" myth which words are not found in the Constitution - against a particular brand of modern churches, i.e. those that are traditional and historic in their affirmation of the authority of the Scriptures, 3) refused to apply its own misconceived Constitutional theories equally; i.e. it will not blow the whistle against "liberal churches" by the same standard it applies to "conservative churches."

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[1] Joseph Conn AUSCS blog, posted February 15, 2008 at http://blog.au.org/2008/02/15/of-death-prayers-and-facts-a-response-to-the-southern-baptists-request-for-correction/ retrieved on February 15, 2008

[2] "Americans United Deplores California Pastor's Renewed 'Death Prayer' Campaign," February 15, 2008 at http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=pr&page=NewsArticle&id=9669 retrieved on February 22, 2008

Michael Bray © 2008

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