| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"George Washington Hayduke" |
| Date: |
29 Sep 2004 11:59:35 AM |
| Object: |
Gay rights group: investigate Swaggart tax exemption |
Gay rights group: investigate Swaggart tax exemption
http://tinyurl.com/6pbyy
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A gay rights group in Baton Rouge is asking
the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the tax-exempt status of
Jimmy Swaggart Ministries following Swaggart's Sept. 12 televised
remark that he would "kill" any gay man who looked at him.
The group, Capital City Alliance suggested in a statement that the
televangelist's remarks disqualify his businesses from continuing to
enjoy no-tax privileges.
"Capital City Alliance strongly feels that the Swaggart
Businesses/Ministries should not continue to enjoy the benefits of
"tax-free living" when his organizations use millions of tax-free
dollars to travel around and degrade taxpaying Americans," said Joe
Traigle, the group's co-chairman.
In the broadcast, Swaggart was discussing his opposition to gay
marriage when he said "I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to
marry."
"And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like
that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died," Swaggart says, to
laughter and applause from the congregation. He later apologized,
saying the remark was meant to be humorous.
The gay rights group dismissed Swaggart's apology Tuesday in remarks
to reporters outside the federal courthouse here. "We all know that
there are people out there that take these things very, very
seriously," said Randal Beach, a lawyer for the group.
The televangelist continues to enjoy a following, though it is much
reduced from his glory days before a 1987 sex scandal involving a
prostitute that he met in a seedy New Orleans motel. Beach made a
joking remark about that episode Tuesday, saying: "I've driven Airline
Highway in Metairie but I haven't run into him." Swaggart has never
confessed to anything more than an unspecified sin.
Tuesday, he didn't immediately respond to an email message seeking
comment.
"We are confident that common sense, and a fair IRS ruling, would
prevent the continuance of a `tax exempt' privilege for any
organization that believes in and verbalizes violence against American
taxpaying citizens," Capital City Alliance said in its letter to the
IRS.
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