Last fall the Christian Coalition’s egregiously inaccurate voter’s guides were distributed in some Oklahoma Baptist churches.   Among other false and misleading statements, the guides falsely labeled Baptist layman Bill Paulk as an advocate for abortion and slanderously contended that Catholic layman Dave Herbert condoned "bestiality."

A member of the local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State found that First Southern Baptist Church of Del City was distributing the guide at the church’s welcome center on the Sunday before election day.   The church has many members who live and vote in Paulk and Herbert’s districts.

State Senator Herbert filed a lawsuit against the Christian Coalition for libel.   State Representative Paulk wrote letters to the pastors he learned had distributed the guides asking for an apology.

District Judge Karl Gray dismissed Herbert’s lawsuit on the grounds that the guides did not represent "facts" but "opinions" and were "protected political speech."  Herbert has appealed the ruling.

The grounds on which Herbert’s lawsuit was dismissed provides further confirmation that Christian Coalition voters guides are less concerned with "facts" than with expressing "opinions" that skew the guides to favor approved candidates.

Tax-exempt organizations are legally prohibited from endorsing political candidates. The Christian Coalition has been engaged in such activity for a long time. That is why the IRS recently revoked their tax-exempt status.

 Churches that distribute voter guides that further partisan political purposes put their own tax-exempt status in jeopardy.

The pastor and people at First Southern Baptist in Del City are certainly entitled to share their "opinions" about political candidates at appropriate places.   The church is hardly the place for this.

Apologies to Bill Paulk and Dave Herbert are overdue from Del City First Southern Baptist and the other churches that distributed Christian Coalition Voter Guides last fall.