Another church has been reported to the Internal Revenue Service for endorsing candidates. It's located in the tiny New Mexico town of Espanola.
Mike Naranjo pastors Rock Christian Fellowship, which uses a marquee outside of the church building to display messages to passersby. This being an election year, Naranjo put two large pictures on the sign, one of an aborted baby and the second of a healthy baby. He then put three pro-abortion candidates' names under the picture of the aborted baby and three pro-life candidates' names under the picture of the healthy baby. "We put the last names of the candidates -- Obama -- that are pro-choice. And then on the other side we put the picture of a healthy baby and the last names of McCain and the other candidates that are pro-life," he explains. Naranjo contends it did not take long for Espanola residents and the media to react. "I mean, it stirred up," he says. "It was like agitating an ants' nest." Before the dust settled, Naranjo received a surprise in the mail. "And next I had heard, we were being reported by the Americans [United] for Separation of Church and State to the IRS," he adds. Naranjo suggests he was trying to provide a voter guide similar to those distributed by the American Family Association, but his church was focusing on one issue. "Now, the problem with this is the law," he concludes. "In my opinion, it's stifling the church, the very moral conscience of America." So far the church has no legal representation, although the Alliance Defense Fund has offered to do so. Americans United for Separation of Church and State reports that Naranjo told them he would "rather lose [his] 501(c)(3) than [his] soul."
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