IRS Seeks to Investigate Charges That Church Endorsed a Presidential Candidate

The Internal Revenue Service has opened a formal investigation into the political activities of a pastor in a church in California.

Wiley Drake, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, confirmed that the IRS sent his church a letter last week. The letter inquired about a press release he sent out in August endorsing Mike Huckabee, a Republican presidential candidate viewed as the most favorable to evangelical Christians.

Mr. Wiley also hosts a Christian radio show and endorsed Mr. Huckabee on the air. However, according to his lawyer, Erik Stanley, Mr. Wiley made it clear in both cases that he endorsed Mr. Huckabee personally, not as a representative of his church, which would make his actions legal and would not jeopardize the church’s tax-exempt status.

Mr. Stanley — senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit group with a Christian focus that will help Mr. Wiley prepare his defense — says the church will respond to the IRS by mid-March. The IRS declined to comment, citing its policy of refraining from public discussion of whether organizations are under investigation.

The investigation comes after Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a watchdog group, alerted the IRS to Mr. Wiley’s endorsement (as it has with other churches). The Los Angeles Times reports that, in response, Mr. Drake has urged followers to pray for officials at American United to die.