By Ryan FoleyChristian Post Reporter Thursday, February 29, 2024

An atheist group is calling on the Internal Revenue Service to strip a prominent Cmegachurch of its tax-exempt status after video footage surfaced of its pastor endorsing a Republican candidate for the US Senate from the pulpit.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, an advocacy group that supports strict separation between church and state, wrote a letter to the IRS on Tuesday asking the government agency to revoke the tax-exempt status of Southern California-based Calvary Chapel Chino Hills.

The quoted letter comments made by Calvary Chapel Chino Hills Pastor Jack Hibbs on Sunday as the justification for the demand.

“I want to publicly right now, today, encourage you all to vote for Steve Garvey,” Hibbs told his congregation, voicing his support for the Republican former Dodgers star. “You have to vote for Steve Garvey.”

“I just remembered it's illegal for me to say that in the pulpit,” he added, stepping out in front of the pulpit. “As a public citizen, Steve Garvey is not only one of the greatest baseball players of all time. But we want Steve Garvey to represent us in the Senate. So, Steve Garvey is your only guy on the ballot.”

“So there, that was legal,” he continued as he returned to the pulpit. “I just had to move from here to there.”

Line characterized the comments of Hibbs as a direct violation of the rules imposed on organizations with 501 (c) (3) status, which include churches. The letter cited the Internal Revenue Code, which states that recipients of 501(c)(3) status may not “participate in, or intervene in (including the issuance or distribution of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to ) any candidate for public office.”

“In this case, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills violated the responsibilities of its tax-exempt status by openly endorsing a candidate for elected office,” Line alleged. “We are writing to respectfully request that the IRS immediately investigate Calvary Chapel Chino Hills and ensure that it no longer receives the benefits of 501(c)(3) status and that donations made to the church are no longer treated as tax deductible.”

Line accused Calvary Chapel Chino Hills of making “a mockery of their 501(c)(3) status by reaping all the benefits of tax exemption while knowingly violating the statute by openly supporting political candidates running for public office.”

The Christian Post reached out to Hibbs for comment through his assistant. A response was not immediately received.

FRFF co-chair Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement stating that “the church is openly and gleefully violating tax-exempt regulations,” adding, “the IRS must sanction it immediately.”

The liberal outlet Right Wing Watch shared a clip of Hibbs' remarks about X. FFRF reposted the video accompanied by a statement describing Hibbs' endorsement of Garvey as “a clear violation of the law” and signaling an intention to contact the IRS.

California voters will head to the polls next week to participate in a “top two” primary that will decide which two of several declared candidates will appear on the ballot as candidates to fill the seat once held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. ., in the November parliamentary election. The incumbent appointed to finish Feinstein's term after her death last year, Sen. Laphonza Butler, is not seeking a full term.

Garvey, a retired Major League Baseball player, is the most prominent Republican candidate in the race, but he may not make it to the general election as, under California law, the two candidates who receive the most votes in the “top two” primary advance to the general election regardless of partisanship.

Polls show Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., as the clear leader in the “top-two” primary, with some polls showing Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., in second place and others predicting that Garvey will advance to the. general election

A a poll of 1,075 likely California voters conducted from February 6-13 by the Public Policy Institute of California shows Schiff receiving 24% of the vote, followed by Porter at 19% and Garvey at 18%. A an inquiry of 935 likely California voters conducted by Emerson College in conjunction with Inside California Politics and The Hill between February 16 and 18 found Schiff capturing 28% of the vote to Garvey's 22% and Porter's 16% .

Should Garvey advance to the general election, he is expected to be an underdog against any Democrat in the deep blue state of California.

Hibbs is not the only pastor to weigh in on politics from the pulpit despite concerns about violating 501(c)(3) status.

In 2022, as Republican Herschel Walker and Democrat Raphael Warnock faced off for a US Senate seat in Georgia, Pastor Jamal Bryant of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in the Atlanta area slammed Walker and urged his congregation to vote for Warnock from the pulpit. Bryant claimed that “white people” told Walker what to do and that Georgia needed a “runner”, not a “walker”.

“Georgia, I need you to know, the slave negro you all used to don't live here anymore,” Bryant said. “We can think for ourselves, run for ourselves and vote for ourselves! Why? Because we don't need Walker.”

Three years earlier, Bryant branded rapper Kanye West a “sellout” in a sermon for endorsing his “orange friend,” then-President Donald Trump.

Hibbs previously drew the ire of Democratic members of Congress after he was invited by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to deliver an opening prayer on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives as a guest chaplain on Jan. 30. . Twenty-six Democratic lawmakers sent a letter criticizing Johnson for inviting a pastor they labeled a “Christian nationalist.” The group also took issue with Hibbs' remarks during his opening prayer.

They took issue with Hibbs' use of the terms “holy fear”, “repentance” and “national sins”, describing them as “allusions to the militant and bigoted agenda he preaches about the LGBTQ+ community, Jews, Muslims, and some whatever conflicts with his 'biblical world view.'”

While his sermon Sunday, Hibbs criticized the letter, saying, “I didn't know I helped start the January 6 riot.” He said he prayed a “Christian prayer”, and “atheists” didn't like it.

“I didn't know I hate Muslims. Found out I do. Did you know I hate Jews? I didn't know that. Did you know I hate GLBTQLMOP?” Hibbs asked the church. “I'm not fit to pray, it says there. By the way, the atheist who wrote this said I'm not fit to pray. I'm going to frame this. This is for entertainment purposes.”

“Here's what's going to happen to me. I'm probably going to be investigated by the IRS. For the record, I owe no taxes, I've paid all my taxes and I've never been late on my taxes … . I want to get out before the power of what these people have. The next thing is to get hit. A congressman told me, 'Watch out. Don't be surprised if you get hit.'”