Church Recruits Patriot Pastors To Support Candidate [View All]

[liberal N proud]

Cleveland TV Station investigation:

Preachers Getting Involved In Politics May Be Against Ohio Law

NewsNet5.com
CLEVELAND - Mixing politics with preaching -- NewsChannel5 investigator Ron Regan is On Your Side revealing how Ohio pastors are getting off the sidelines and into politics, and why they may be breaking the law. Regan: You may not have been invited, but the 500 conservative Ohio voters at a luncheon could help elect the next leader of the state you live in.

The Rev. Russell Johnson, Ohio Restoration Project: "There has been a Jihad, a secular Jihad against expression of faith, while some in the church are sitting on the sidelines."

Regan: And getting off the sidelines and into politics is what Pastor Russell Johnson is preaching.

Johnson: "For such a time as this, I was placed upon this earth. "

Regan: It's called the "Ohio Restoration Project" -- based at a church in central Ohio.

Johnson: "We don't want to impose our ideas, we want to propose ideas."

Regan: "Johnson's ideas include banning gay marriage, opposing abortion and tax supported private schools. But how he's doing it, may be breaking the law."

Thirty-one Ohio pastors are asking the IRS to investigate Johnson's group on grounds that luncheons are mixing politics with preaching.

The Rev. Eric Williams, North Congregational Church of Christ: "They crossed the line and they're not acting as a church in my mind. They're acting more like a political organization to elect a single candidate."

Regan: And that candidate appears to be Republican Ken Blackwell.

Sure enough, we found Blackwell at a Restoration Project meeting last month near Canton, where he even received an award.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/7120773/detail.html