WASHINGTON, July 30, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The head of the Christian Seniors Association (CSA) asked U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate reported harassment of churches in Kansas and Missouri. CSA Executive Director James Lafferty said a report by the Associated Press and the website of a group calling itself The Mainstream Coalition says it has over 100 members who “monitor” sermons and worship at targeted churches.
Lafferty said he has delivered letters to Attorney General Ashcroft and to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division asking that federal agents be dispatched to Kansas and Missouri to observe the coalition’s activities against churches there.
“Churches in those states are being strong-armed and pushed around because of their beliefs,” said Lafferty in a press release. “We want those religious citizens to get the protection they are promised in the Constitution. It is time somebody pushed back at the liberal bullies.”“This is harassment, pure and simple,” he said. “Churches in Kansas and Missouri which oppose homosexual marriage go to the top of the coalition’s target list for some ‘monitoring.’” The Mainstream Coalition calls itself a political watchdog, saying they monitor sermons for evidence of pastors endorsing specific political candidates—which is against the law according to the Internal Revenue Service. In fact, the Mainstream Coalition’s website reveals its leftist agenda of pro-abortion support, homosexual activism, and anti-prayer in schools, among others. Many of the members of the Mainstream Coalition are current or former members of the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the National Education Association.
“They don’t want to monitor anything; they are there to intimidate pastors and worshippers.” Lafferty said. “Christians shouldn’t be forced to surrender any of their rights as citizens including the right to public worship and the right to express sincerely-held religious beliefs.” Visit the Mainstream Coalition web-site: https://www.mainstreamcoalition.com/ tv