| WASHINGTON
- October 26 - Voter guides prepared by TV preacher Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition for the Nov. 6 Virginia elections are skewed toward Republican candidates and are therefore inappropriate for church distribution, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The campaign materials, unveiled by the Coalition this week, reflect a clear partisan bias in support of gubernatorial candidate Mark Earley and other Republican nominees. Because federal tax law prohibits tax-exempt institutions, including churches, from engaging in any kind of partisan politicking, Americans United said churches that distribute the guides may face legal difficulties.
The Coalition plans to distribute these guides through evangelical churches in Virginia. AU said the issues chosen and the language used are manipulated to persuade a conservative Christian audience to vote for certain candidates.
"These guides are clearly stacked to direct conservative Christian voters to support Republican candidates," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "No one could look at this guide and say with a straight face that they're non-partisan and educational."
Earlier this week, Americans United sent letters to churches throughout the state, encouraging pastors to consider the legal and ethical consequences of distributing slanted voter guides.
"The guides select specific issues to make the Republican a saint, and the Democrat a sinner," Lynn added. "Just as importantly, the guides phrase the issues in a biased fashion, and then give misleading and sometimes wrong information. These guides don't belong in churches, they belong in the recycling bin."
Lynn added that it's little surprise the guides favor the GOP. According to media accounts, Christian Coalition President Robertson has already contributed $35,000 to Earley's campaign.
"These voter guides are just another Robertson contribution to the GOP campaign," said AU's Lynn. "Churches should not participate in this sleazy political charade. Houses of worship are supposed to spread religious truths, not campaign lies."
Americans United's analysis reveals serious flaws that question the integrity of the Coalition's voter guide.
The Coalition's guide, for example, says Mark Warner, the Democratic candidate, opposes "voluntary prayer in public school." In public statements, Warner has never said he opposes the rights of students to pray, and in fact, has expressed support for Virginia's moment-of-silence law. The guide also says Warner opposes parental notification for minors seeking abortion, when in fact, Warner is on record supporting parental notification laws.
In short, of the five issues where Warner's alleged position is listed, two are factually inaccurate. In the other five issues listed in the guide, Warner's position is indicated as "no response."
"While Robertson and his group may be trying to use churches to create a political machine, religious leaders should reject his advances," concluded AU's Lynn. "The Coalition's campaign materials are slanted campaign propaganda. Pastors shouldn't touch these guides with a ten-foot pole."
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
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