The Campaign Intervention Olympics: Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
FFRF’s Ron Reagan: Lifelong Atheist, Not Afraid of Burning in Hell
Now that Joe-pa has dropped out and Kamala has dropped into the race, we can get on with some serious campaign intervention Olympics. The Freedom From Religion Foundation kicks things off with a slam dunk accusation against the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. I read through the communications issued by this one man “league” claiming to be “the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization” and sure enough they express consistent disdain for Vice President Harris. Here is FFRF’s announcement:
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has lodged a formal complaint with the IRS after the Catholic League engaged in unlawful political campaigning in a recent post, “Kamala Harris is not religion-friendly.” The Catholic League posted the July 24 article “assessing her candidacy for president of the United States,” clearly intended to encourage readers not to vote for Kamala Harris. It concluded: “Harris’ record on life, marriage, gender ideology and religion are deeply troubling.”
The following day, the Catholic League posted a second article entitled “Spinning DEI for Kamala.” The article included several negative statements about Harris, charging that she was only chosen to be vice president because she is a Black woman. Meanwhile, a post on July 22 titled “Vance’s Catholicism under fire” defended Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance from recent attacks. FFRF points out that, taken together, it is clear that the Catholic League is attempting to take a position in the presidential election, in violation of IRS regulations.
“Some organizations, like the Catholic League, have chosen to make a mockery of their 501(c)(3) status by reaping all of the benefits of tax exemption while knowingly violating the law by openly endorsing or opposing political candidates running for public office,” FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line writes.
. . .
The league has a long history of attacking Harris as a candidate, including a diatribe during the 2016 vice presidential contest headlined, “Kamala Harris’ lust for abortion.” Its current piece repeats an earlier accusation that Harris supposedly “bludgeoned” an anti-abortion activist, which in fact refers not to a physical assault but to the fact that as California attorney general she authorized a raid on his home. The piece links to a previous Catholic League response about the Sept. 12, 2016 presidential debate, titled “Harris Unhinged.” When she was chosen as Joe Biden’s running mate, the league posted an article, “Kamala Harris’ Catholic problem,” in which Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented “on the problem Sen. Kamala Harris will have with Catholics.” The piece, posted on the league’s c(3) website, dissected in detail Donohue’s criticisms of her candidacy.
It all checks out. But that doesn’t matter because the prohibitions against campaign intervention and substantial lobbying are unconstitutional, everybody knows that. And the Service’s chances of winning on this issue are about as good as the chances a Jamaican bobsled team will win a gold medal in the next winter Olympics.
darryll k. jones