Church-State Watchdog Says Falwell Attack Is Designed To Shift Attention From Liberty University Partisanship
Americans United for Separation of Church and State says an Internal Revenue Service complaint filed against it today by Jerry Falwell Jr. is groundless and should go nowhere.
Falwell, chancellor of Liberty University, directed his legal arm, Liberty Counsel, to file the complaint in retaliation after Americans United reported the Lynchburg school to the IRS last week.
Liberty officials had yanked official recognition of a student Democratic club while continuing official status for a Republican club. Americans United told the IRS that the unequal treatment is evidence of partisanship at the tax-exempt school and constituted an in-kind contribution to Republican candidates.
Liberty’s action has been widely criticized in the media and by officials in the higher education community. Under increasing pressure, Falwell lashed out at Americans United.
“Falwell knows full well that Americans United is rigorously non-partisan,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “He’s feeling the heat for a bad decision and trying to shift the focus to Americans United.”
Continued Lynn, “This is a desperate diversionary tactic, and it will fail. Instead of launching baseless attacks against Americans United, Falwell needs to get his own house in order.”
Lynn pointed out that the Liberty Counsel letter is replete with distortions, inaccuracies and outright falsehoods. For example, the letter claims that Lynn attended a service at the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church and a national meeting of the United Church of Christ, both of which featured speeches by Barack Obama. In fact, Lynn did not attend either of those events.
Lynn noted that members of the Falwell family have had a difficult time obeying federal tax law.
In 1993, Falwell’s father, the late TV preacher Jerry Falwell, had to pay the IRS $50,000 in back taxes due to partisan political activity by the “Old Time Gospel Hour,” a tax-exempt broadcast ministry. The ministry’s tax exemption for the years 1986 and 1987 was retroactively revoked.
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