Free Republic

Rev. Barry Lynn is the self appointed watch dog who runs “Americans United for the Separation of Church and State”; a well funded 501 c3 exempt public policy and educational organization. I am well acquainted with Rev. Lynn. For years, while I served as the first Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), in the 19990’s, a public interest law firm committed to an authentic view of religious freedom, we crossed paths quite a few times. He still regularly debates my friend, the Chief Counsel for the ACLJ, and noted Supreme Court Advocate, Jay Sekulow. I...

IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING OBAMA'S appearance, Lynn was quick to issue a pass for his own church, saying neither Obama nor the UCC had "run afoul of federal tax law."

The Christian Century Magazine News March 25, 2008 IRS probes appearance by Obama at UCC convention The Internal Revenue Service has notified the United Church of Christ that it has opened an investigation into possible "political activities" connected with Senator Barack Obama's speech at the denomination's national convention last year. UCC president John H. Thomas termed the investigation "disturbing," but said that church officials took great care to see that Obama's appearance at the UCC General Synod meeting last June in Hartford, Connecticut, "met appropriate legal and moral standards." Engaging in partisan political acts can endanger a church body's tax-exempt...

Pastors and other Christian leaders have new resources to help their followers cast informed ballots in the presidential elections this year. Each election year, Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State mails letters to churches warning them against any involvement with politics. Buddy Smith with the American Family Association -- a former pastor who received one of those letters -- says Lynn's method may be effective, but his motive is suspect. "We must commend him, to a certain degree, in that he is effective at intimidating some pastors from stepping forward in this arena, really...

Liberty Chancellor Used School Resources To Promote Presidential Candidate, Church-State Watchdog Group Says BBSNews 2007-12-04 -- (AU) Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. violated federal tax law by using school resources to endorse Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Americans United for Separation of Church and State told the Internal Revenue Service today. In a complaint filed with the federal tax agency, Americans United noted that Falwell hosted the candidate at Liberty University and then sent an email message on Liberty University letterhead endorsing Huckabee. In a "Liberty News Alert" dated Dec. 1, 2007, Falwell wrote, "Recently, Governor Mike Huckabee called...

You've got to hand it to Barack Obama. He used his presidential campaign speech to a church to call for separation of church and state and then divided himself from the "religious right" by labeling the movement "divisive." Not every rhetorician could get away with that kind of sleight of mouth. First off, the very presence of Obama speaking before the United Church of Christ's 50th anniversary national General Synod is somewhat remarkable. He's running for president. And this is the congregation of Barry Lynn, the founder of American United for Separation of Church and State, who runs a personal...

WASHINGTON, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of Pagan religious leaders from diverse denominations will gather in Lafayette Square Park on the Fourth of July to advocate for a Pagan military chaplain, request more approved Pagan religious symbols from the Department of Veterans Affairs and call for universal freedom of religious expression. Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State will also address the crowd. "Until Pagans have the same rights as Presbyterians and Pentecostals, religious liberty is not safe in America. The Framers of our Constitution mandated no preference for any one religion over another...

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, June 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of the Diocese of Providence in Rhode Island is under fire from an activist group that claims his recent column in the diocesean newspaper criticizing Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani for his position on abortion violated the Church’s tax-exempt status. Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Tobin to determine whether he violated the Church’s tax-exempt status. The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the group’s executive director, said in a news release that Tobin “appears to have violated federal tax...

Some comments on the death of Jerry Falwell: "Jerry has been a tower of strength on many of the moral issues which have confronted our nation." — evangelist Pat Robertson. ___ "Dr. Falwell's shadow falls across the face of the rebirth of conservative values in our nation, in the Southern Baptist Convention, and in the entire evangelical world. Only once in a generation will a man of his stature arise. We all owe him a debt of eternal gratitude." — Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. ___ "Unfortunately, we will always remember him as...

There is an undeniable beauty to laissez-faire theory, with its promise that by struggling against one another, by grasping and elbowing and shouting and shoving, we create efficiency and satisfaction and progress for all. This concept has shaped, at the most fundamental levels, how we understand and engineer our basic freedoms -economic, political, and moral. Until recently, however, most politicians and economists accepted that freedom within the marketplace had to be limited, at least to some degree, by rules designed to ensure general economic and social outcomes. From Adam Smith onward, almost all the great preachers of laissez-faire were tempered...

According to a Hartford Courant article (http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctlaborflap0603.artjun03,0,6858521.story?coll=hc-headlines-local) the State of Connecticut is funding $100,000 for te United Church of Christ convention in Hartford next year. The executive director for Americans United is Barry Lynn - who is also a UCC minister. So far, Americans United has not responded to any questions about the Hartford Convention despite numerous call and emails. PLEASE CONTACT AMERICANS UNITED today and ask them to prove they are not partisan by checking on their own director's church. PLEASE CALL EMAIL OR FAX THEM AS SOON AS YOU CAN. Just last month, Americans United publicly complained about...

"The voting bloc known as the religious right must be stopped before it destroys the country, the head of the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State told a Denver audience Tuesday."

Many public schools already use The Chronicles of Narnia in their reading curriculum. But after Florida governor Jeb Bush started promoting The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in a statewide reading contest called "Just Read, Florida," the critics are wanting to ban that book. C.S. Lewis' classic, set to premiere as a major motion picture Dec. 9, has a clear Christian message, culminating in the Christ-figure, Aslan the Lion, giving himself to the devil figure, the White Witch, to die in the place of the rotten little kid, Edmund. Then Aslan rises from the dead, which brings salvation to...

Freep this poll -- the "Rev." BarryLynn of the paradoxically named "Americans United for Separation of Church and State" and his other poor comrades afflicted with Separation Anxiety, are now trying to have government establish their own anti-god religion by forcing Florida public schoolchildren not to discover the magic of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by literary master C.S. Lewis.

Under Attack! The Wall Separating Church and State ADL's 2005 Society of Fellows Donor Recognition Luncheon will be Nov. 15 The Rev. Barry M. Lynn, Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, will be the keynote speaker for ADL's 2005 Society of Fellows Donor Recognition Luncheon on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt Denver, 1750 Welton. The annual event gives ADL the opportunity to recognize donors who have given $500 or more to support the Mountain States Regional Office.

Lost in the hubbub of this week's excellent Supreme Court nomination and continued terrorist activity came two important rulings regarding complaints against me and my ministries. First, the Federal Election Commission unanimously dismissed a complaint that had been filed against me and Liberty Alliance, one of my affiliate organizations that is dedicated to promoting Judeo-Christian values in the political realm through lobbying efforts. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service closed the books on a complaint regarding a Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary chapel address wherein I endorsed President Bush's re-election. The FEC complaint arose after I sent out a July 1,...

ANOTHER KERRY DISCHARGEBefore Memorial Day weekend, Sen. John Kerry sat down with editors of his hometown newspaper, the Boston Globe and announced that he had signed the form SF 180, authorizing the Department of Defense to grant access to all his military records. This, more than a year after he had claimed the press and public had seen all there was to see from his military record. Only one problem: according to several sources who formerly worked on the Kerry campaign, the senator expects that little to nothing new will be in the files that are released. "He's fairly confident...

As worries mount over crumbling walls at California's 21 Spanish-era missions, one man says another historic wall deserves equal preservation. The Rev. Barry Lynn claims that spending $10 million in taxpayer money to renovate the structures would breach a constitutional barrier against government funding for religion. The hard-line advocate for church and state separation is locked in a legal battle that tests the constitutionality of federal legislation to fund renovations. Supporters say the money is a must to save monuments that are priceless windows on the West's past. Lynn realizes his challenge won't win many fans in the Golden State....

Barry Lynn is the top guy at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and a cartoonish presence on talking head television, ever-ready to declare the imminent threat of theocracy in the land. It should come as no surprise to anyone, then, that the organization Lynn leads last week leveled a series of very serious charges against almost everyone at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The report, available here in PDF, is among the worst examples of McCarthyism since Joe McCarthy stood up on February 9, 1950, and declared that "I have here in...

A week before Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist swore in President George W. Bush to a second term as president last month, Justice Clarence Thomas presided over a little-noticed inauguration inside the Court building that has generated some controversy. In an invitation-only ceremony, Thomas on Jan. 13 gave the oath of office to newly elected Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker, a close protégé and former aide to one-time Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. Moore was ousted from office in 2003 for defying a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the judicial building rotunda in...

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign has hired a new director of religion outreach, who is being described by a Catholic group as "a curious choice." Mara Vanderslice, who formerly worked as religion outreach director for Democrat Howard Dean, was raised without any faith and didn't become an evangelical Christian until she attended Earlham College, a Quaker school known for its adherence to pacifism, the Catholic League said on Monday. According to Catholic League President William Donohue, when Vanderslice was in college she was active in the Earlham Socialist Alliance, a group that supports convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and...

(Great Falls-AP) Nov. 16, 2004 - The Town of Great Falls will ask the United States Supreme Court to overturn lower court rulings that prevents Town Council from using the name "Jesus Christ" in prayers at meetings. The council voted 6-1 on Monday night to appeal the case. Darla Kaye Wynne, a Wiccan high priestess, sued the town in 2001 after its leaders refused to open meetings only with nonsectarian prayers or to allow members of different faiths to lead the prayers. A judge's ruling last year banned reference to a specific deity in prayers at the town's meetings, ruling...

IRS Asked To Probe Kerry Appearance At Church POSTED: 6:55 pm EDT October 13, 2004 UPDATED: 7:01 pm EDT October 13, 2004 WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service is being asked to investigate whether a Miami church where Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry spoke on Sunday violated tax laws. John Kerry courted the black vote Sunday in Florida, meeting with, among others, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Barry Lynn, of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said statements by the pastor and leading Democrats during the worship service amounted to explicit endorsements of Kerry. The Rev. Gaston Smith...

Group pushes evangelical vote Focus on Family begins a national registration drive By Gwen Florio, Rocky Mountain News September 4, 2004 Concerned that not enough evangelical Christians are voting, Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family is launching a nationwide voter-registration drive this month. "There is a sense that this is a real pivotal election," said Jim Chapman, president of the Rocky Mountain Family Council, which is coordinating the effort involving hundreds of churches in Colorado. "People of faith need to be in the public square." Both Chapman and Jim Banks, voter-registration field representative for Focus on the Family, said studies...

Bill Clinton bashed President Bush in a speech delivered from the pulpit of a prominent Manhattan church on the Sunday before the Republican National Convention began. Yet, Americans United for Separation of Church and State does not view Clinton's pulpit-based diatribe a violation of tax laws. Ever since then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson (D.-Tex.) slipped a provision into a bill back in 1954, federal law has prohibited tax-exempt churches from engaging in partisan political speech. Every election season, Americans United files complaints against churches that it alleges have violated this law. The group also opposes the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration...

They danced, clapped, shouted and sang, and that was before the Rev. Al Sharpton even opened his mouth. By the time the former presidential candidate finished his sermon to more than a thousand people gathered in a Miami church Sunday, blending politics and religion into a call to action to South Florida's black community, congregation members churned with energy. When he was done, Sharpton introduced the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. McAuliffe apologized to the congregation for the 2000 election and for not being in Florida to stop voting problems.

Big Brother Church Watch Announced Washington, DC William J. Murray, the president of the Religious Freedom Action Coalition, a social conservative group, announced the formation of a group to monitor traditionally liberal churches for political activity. The new group, Big Brother Church Watch, functions primarily through its Internet site at www.RatOutaChurch.org! The newly formed organization has already placed monitors in politically active Metropolitan Community, Unitarian/Universalist, and AME churches. AME churches are predominately African-American and their pastors frequently endorse liberal Democrat candidates from the pulpit. Volunteer workers will also be monitoring Internet sites of Democratic candidates and following them to churches...

Arkansas Church's Partisan Politicking Needs Irs Investigation, Says AUWednesday July 21, 2004 Baptist Pastor Promotes Bush In Nationally Televised Sunday SermonAn Arkansas church that intervened in partisan politics on behalf of President George W. Bush should be investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.Americans United says the July 4 sermon by Pastor Ronnie Floyd at the First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark., crossed the line into inappropriate partisan politicking. "Pastor Floyd's presentation seemed more like a Bush campaign commercial than a church service," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. "His sermon...

A fight is erupting this election season between conservative churches and liberal watchdog groups that are going to the IRS and accusing ministers of violating the law if they speak out about political issues and candidates.     "Right now, it's very one-sided," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a conservative legal-action group.     He said the liberal Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) -- led by the Rev. Barry W. Lynn -- has been "very aggressive" in going after churches "that are conservative in their leanings." But AU has "looked the...

Reverend Barry, Quite Contrary He's a minister who defends abortion, gay marriage and pornography. And he thinks conservative Christians are a menace to society? Reverend Barry, Quite Contrary He's a minister who defends abortion, gay marriage and pornography. And he thinks conservative Christians are a menace to society? by Matt Kaufman You've heard people blast the "Religious Right" before, but Barry Lynn really lets it fly. America, he says, is threatened by "radical religious fundamentalists." These people are "bullies," "dangerous zealots," "extremists who despise pro-choice advocates, working mothers, gay-rights supporters and everybody else who departs from their narrow views." They're...

A Christian attorney is encouraging pastors to be bold when it comes to speaking out about political and moral issues. Earlier this month, Democratic vice-presidential nominee John Edwards spoke from the pulpit of St Mark AME Church in Orlando, Florida. No one complained about the speech. But Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver says when Dr. Jerry Falwell expressed his personal opinion -- in a non-church publication -- about supporting President George W. Bush, the liberal group Americans United for Separation of Church and State lodged a complaint. Staver accuses several groups -- among them Americans United, People for the American...

Walk into the Capitol offices of Gov. Jeb Bush's top lawyer, and one of the first things you'll see is a small American flag with one significant difference: Instead of just stars and stripes, there's a bright white cross emblazoned over the blue field. To critics, the message is simple: America is a Christian nation. "To me, it's offensive and hurtful," said state Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston. The image is on a greeting card and is posted on a bulletin board among personal family photos of the receptionist, and does not appear to imply official state policy. Nonetheless, its...

WASHINGTON – At least two organizations are monitoring the content of Sunday sermons by U.S. pastors and threatening to report churches to the Internal Revenue Service if they hear political messages they deem inappropriate under federal guidelines on tax-exempt status. Earlier this week, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, headed by Barry Lynn, filed a complaint with the IRS against Ronnie Floyd, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark., accusing him of preaching a sermon promoting President Bush's re-election July 4. The complaint challenges the church's tax-exempt status as a religious organization. Lynn's letter to the...

Citing Falwell's Endorsement of Bush, Group Challenges His Tax-Exempt Status By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK Published: July 16, 2004 oping to send a warning to churches helping the Bush campaign turn out conservative voters, a liberal group has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service charging that an organization run by the Rev. Jerry Falwell has violated the requirements of its tax-exempt status by endorsing Mr. Bush's re-election. "For conservative people of faith, voting for principle this year means voting for the re-election of George W. Bush," Mr. Falwell wrote in the July 1 issue of his e-mail newsletter "Falwell...

Hoping to send a warning to churches helping the Bush campaign turn out conservative voters, a liberal group has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service charging that an organization run by the Rev. Jerry Falwell has violated the requirements of its tax-exempt status by endorsing Mr. Bush's re-election. "For conservative people of faith, voting for principle this year means voting for the re-election of George W. Bush," Mr. Falwell wrote in the July 1 issue of his e-mail newsletter "Falwell Confidential'' and on his Web site, falwell.com. "The alternative, in my mind, is simply unthinkable. To the pro-life,...

Famous financier Sir John Templeton has donated $1 million through his foundation to a political group that will encourage political conservatives to vote this November. Templeton’s significant donation is another sign the hotly contested 2004 race may turn out to be a battle of billionaires for the hearts and minds of Americans. The John Templeton Foundation, launched in 1987 by philanthropist, author and financier Sir John Mark Templeton, has earmarked the donation to kick-start an independent-expenditure group that will “counter the millions of dollars being spent to attack and discredit President Bush by leftist organizations such as those supported by...

If the New York Times and NPR have their way, Christians may soon long for the days of hungry lions and syphilitic Roman emperors. The Scylla and Charybdis of respectable opinion have all but begged the Internal Revenue Service to open up a large-scale investigation of all churches that take stands on moral issues which bleed over into political action, or allow members of their congregation to register voters. Well, the conservative ones anyway. The other week the Times reported on a mass e-mail from President George W. Bush's re-election campaign asking conservative Christians to recruit more conservative Christians within...

A National Public Radio report –- surmising that people are being encouraged to “vote Republican” by the Southern Baptist iVoteValues.com voter registration campaign -- was “misinformed and untrue,” according to a response mailed to NPR by the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s president. Richard Land, in a June 2 letter to the executive producer of NPR’s “All Things Considered” program, Chris Turpin, noted that the May 21 edition of the program included statements by a reporter, Barbara Bradley Hagerty, “together with a sound bite from Mr. Barry Lynn, that incorrectly implied that the Southern Baptist Convention has been making...

NewsMax.com's Fr. Michael Reilly details the latest assault from the left on religious freedom. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State is asking the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of a Catholic diocese because the bishop instructed his diocese on who may receive communion. "Any Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion, for illicit stem cell research or for any form of euthanasia ipso facto place themselves outside full communion with the Church and so jeopardize their salvation," Bishop Michael Sheridan told the people of Colorado Springs. "Any Catholics who vote for candidates who stand for...

Anti-religious zealots and hypocrites who don't object when the likes of John Kerry and Al Sharpton and Bill Clinton and Al Gore and Jesse Jackson and Jimmy Carter campaign in churches are feigning outrage that President Bush dares to do the same thing. An e-mail from Luke Bernstein of the Bush-Cheney campaign's office in Pennsylvania asks churchgoers to organize "Friendly Congregations" to promote the president's re-election. "I'd like to ask if you would like to serve as a coordinator in your place of worship," the message says. "We plan to undertake activities such as distributing general information/updates or voter...

MILWAUKEE -- A Roman Catholic bishop who waded into politics with a decree that lawmakers who support abortion rights can no longer receive holy communion has ignited a debate over the separation of church and state. Bishop Raymond Burke of La Crosse cited Vatican doctrine, canon law and teachings by the U.S. bishops in an announcement telling diocesan priests to withhold communion from such lawmakers until they ''publicly renounce'' their support of abortion rights. ''This is about as stark a decree to come down against Catholic politicians as we've seen in recent history,'' said Barry Lynn, executive director of the...

Bishop's edict draws a strong reaction By Juliet Williams Associated Press MILWAUKEE - A Roman Catholic bishop who waded into politics with a decree that lawmakers who support abortion rights can no longer receive Holy Communion has ignited a debate over the separation of church and state. Bishop Raymond Burke of La Crosse cited Vatican doctrine, canon law and teachings by the U.S. bishops in an announcement telling diocesan priests to withhold communion from such lawmakers until they ``publicly renounce'' their support of abortion rights. ``This is about as stark a decree to come down against Catholic politicians as we've...

Man of the Year: Roy Moore by Ann Coulter Posted Dec 19, 2003 Uttering the standard liberal cliché a few years ago, Richard Reeves described "representatives of the new South" as "Republicans of old Puritan definition, righteous folk afraid that someone, somewhere, is having fun." (I'll skip the context of Reeves' insight, except to note that apparently aging liberals view sodomy with the chubby intern in the back office as "having fun.") Like all beliefs universally held by liberals, Reeves's aphorism is the precise opposite of the truth. It's the blue states that are constantly sending lawyers to the red...

A Republican-led push to let parents send disabled children to private school with government money failed Wednesday as the House passed legislation renewing a 28-year-old law governing special education. Critics said the school choice proposals amounted to a dangerous expansion of the voucher program. Almost every Democrat and about one-fifth of Republicans joined to reject the ideas. The proposals were a major point of contention in the debate over reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The bill passed by a 251-171 vote. One plan would have enticed states to create private school options so parents could use public...

<p>RICHMOND, Va. — In an important victory for First Amendment groups, a federal appeals court ruled Monday that the traditional prayers said before evening meals at the Virginia Military Institute (search) are unconstitutional.</p> <p>The decision upholds a lower court ruling and emphasizes that the extraordinary obedience demanded of VMI cadets doesn't give them the freedom to choose not to participate in what's been called a non-denominational, voluntary dinner prayer.</p>

A small Phoenix-based apologetics ministry has won its lawsuit against a liberal free speech advocate. Barry Lynn, who has claimed that the First Amendment protects the distribution of X-rated movies, agreed recently to stop censoring distribution of an Alpha and Omega Ministries' (AOM) videotape in which he debated the director of the ministry last May over the question, "Is Homosexuality Compatible With Authentic Christianity?" Lynn filed the suit in April, but AOM officials said he had agreed before the debate to the video's reproduction and distribution. However, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State tried...