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HOUSTON – In a series of tweets, Mayor Sylvester Turner defends the city from Second Baptist Church’s Pastor Dr. Ed Young’s sermon.
Over the weekend, Young encouraged his congregation to vote out Houston and Harris County elected officials over crime, police staffing, and bonds.
“In all probability, Houston is one of the two of three most dangerous cities in the world to live in,” Young said from the church pulpit in a video posted on the church’s website. “Ladies and gentlemen if Houston and Harris County is to survive, we better throw those bums out of office. They are not doing the job that we have called them to.”
CLICK HERE TO VIEW YOUNG’S SERMON
“Houston is not the most dangerous city in America,” Turner said on Twitter. “That is factually not true, and people should not say it to gain some political benefit. Facts from the pulpit should still matter.”
Texas Southern University’s Distinguish Law Professor James Matthew Douglas and Prairie View A&M University Eddy Carder, Ph.D., J.D., say Young comes extremely close to violating the Internal Revenue Service’s restriction on political statements for tax-exempt 501(c)(3)s.
The I.R.S. states, “under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”
“If he starts endorsing, if the church begins to endorse candidates, then that crosses the line,” Douglas said. “He’s talking about what he thinks ought to happen now if it makes it happen then he has crossed the line but talking about it didn’t cross the line.”
“If he starts endorsing, if the church begins to endorse candidates, then that crosses the line,” Douglas said. “He’s talking about what he thinks ought to happen now if it makes it happen then he has crossed the line but talking about it didn’t cross the line.”
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