May 10, 2005
Pastor Accused of Running Out Dems Quits
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- A Baptist preacher accused of running out
nine congregants who refused to support President Bush resigned
Tuesday.
''I am resigning with gratitude in my heart for all of you,
particularly those of you who love me and my family,'' the Rev. Chan
Chandler said during a meeting at East Waynesville Baptist Church.
Congregants of the 100-member church in western North Carolina have
said Chandler endorsed Bush from the pulpit during last year's
presidential campaign and said that anyone who planned to vote for
Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry needed to ''repent or resign.''
The church members said he continued to preach about politics after
Bush won re-election, culminating with a church gathering last week in
which the nine members said they were ousted.
Chandler's resignation came a day after a national group that lobbies
for church-state separation urged the Internal Revenue Service to
investigate the tax-exempt status of the East Waynesville Baptist
Church.
IRS rules bar clear-cut politicking by tax-exempt groups. Last
October, days before Bush won a second term, the IRS said it was
investigating about 60 charities and other tax-exempt groups -- about
a third of them churches -- for potentially breaking rules that bar
them from participating in political activity.
The outcome of those investigations is not known. The IRS is barred
from naming the organizations it probes or announcing case results.
At Sunday's service, the 33-year-old Chandler said the flap over the
church members' dismissal was ''a great misunderstanding'' and he
tried to welcome them back.
''No one has ever been voted from the membership of this church due to
an individual's support or lack of support for a political party or
candidate,'' he said in a statement.
But the dismissed members, who attended the service with their lawyer
and other supporters, said there was no misunderstanding and the only
way to heal the rift is for Chandler to leave.
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