Homophobic Yukon Church Illegally

Hosting GOP Activist Training

November 17, 2009

Trinity Baptist Church of Yukon, OK, whose pastor Dan Fisher just returned with Paul Blair and Steve Kern from Washington DC where they were part of the Gay Hate Rally a/k/a the Rally for Religious Freedom, is the first host site for a series of classes to teach participants about GOP Activism and Legislative Lobbying.

Churches are prohibited by U.S. tax law from using their facilities and equipment to the benefit of one political party. Fisher, however, already has a history of violating federal law in such things.

Last year scofflaws Fisher and Blair defied another provision of the federal tax law known as the Johnson Amendment, when on Sept. 28, 2009, they joined with 33 other pastors from around the nation in endorsing presidential candidate John McCain during their sermons. In front of approximately 1250 church goers, Fisher campaigned for McCain and zeroed in on same-sex marriages, abortion, and the appointing of conservative judges to the United States Supreme Court as justification for violating the law. 

The Johnson Amendment, passed in 1954 and named after then senator Lyndon B. Johnson, bars churches, who claim and receive benefits under a tax exempt status, from using the pulpit and their facilities for partisan politics. Churches may still lobby and advocate an issue, but are in direct violation when they show favoritism to a specific candidate or political party. The law does not make it illegal for the churches to do such things, but, if they want to have a tax exempt status, , they must comply with the law or risk being penalized.

In 2008 on the Sunday prior to the presidential election, Blair told his 350 parishioners that he would be voting for McCain and believed the law was unconstitutional and needed to be challenged in court. However, in 2000 a federal appeals court upheld the law, when they supported the revocation of the tax exempt status of Branch Ministries after that church campaigned against Bill Clinton.  

The watchdog group Americans United for Separation of Church and State reported the Oklahoma pair to the IRS for violations of the law during their 2008 stunt.

The invitation that was given to Gossip Boy by one of our embedded sources says:

A series of training classes will be held across the state of Oklahoma over
the next several months. There will be two of these classes given this coming
Saturday November 21st in Yukon at the Trinity Baptist Church. The two classes
being given are: 1. Legislative Lobbying Training, and 2. GOP Activist Training.
The classes will start at 10:00 am. Please allow a minimum of two and one half
hours to attend both classes. Depending upon the need, the classes could run
longer or additional sessions be held after lunch.
 
The Legislative Lobbying Training will teach you how to be an effective
advocate of Constitutional principles to the Oklahoma State Legislature no matter
how much or little time you can spare by utilizing the talents and skills you
already possess. The methods of contacting and influencing the
legislators will be discussed along with other related topics.
 
The GOP activist training class will teach you how to become an
effective advocate of Constitutional principles within the Republican Party. The
class will teach you how the Oklahoma Republican Party is structured and how you
can be an effective member of the party structure. This will be a chance for you
to learn how to "do something" to restore this country to the
Constitutional principles upon which it was founded.
 
There will be several speakers at these events. Some of the speakers have
had more that 25 years of dedicated involvement in these activities.
 
These training events are being sponsored by the Oklahoma Constitutional
Alliance. Member organizations will be allowed to display organizational
information at these events (table space may be limited at some events).
Political candidates will also be allowed to be present and display their
literature at these events.

The event is by invitation of “like minded” Constitutional conservatives only, which is another violation of the Johnson Amendment, which requires such gatherings in churches to be bipartisan and open to all candidates. Directions to the Trinity Baptist Church’s illegal gathering include the instruction to look for a sign saying “OCA GOP Precinct Training”.

Gossip Boy has also learned that future sites for the training will be at the Shawnee Public Library on Nov. 23^rd, OKC’s Southern Oaks Library on Dec. 1^st and 15^th, and the Moore Public Library on Dec. 8^th.  Dates beyond this year are as yet unknown.

The secretive Oklahoma Constitutional Alliance (OCA) includes the John Birch Society, OK-SAFE, various Tea Party groups, and the newly launched Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Association (OK2A), which is to advance gubernatorial candidate Randy Brogdon’s upcoming Firearms Freedom Act in Oklahoma.

Some of those groups are also lining up to march in various upcoming Christmas parades in the state.

The OCA was organized in October by J.R. Bob Dobbs of Moore, Oklahoma. A similar group, which included co-founders Okahoma State Rep. Charles Key (R-District 90) and Republican grassroots activist Sandra Crosnoe, failed to fly in 2008. The OCA releases very little information about itself publicly, but we have garnered their main thrust is to exert the sovereignty of Oklahoma and challenge federal influence in the state, while taking over various local, county, and state offices.

Dobbs will be helping to lead an “End the Fed Rally” at Hefner Park on Nov. 22^nd. He bases his belief about the Federal Reserve off the writings of often-debunked conspiracy theorist G. Edward Griffin author of The Creature from Jekyll Island.  He is said to be a relative of like-minded former CNN host Lou Dobbs.

Dobbs ran a losing race for Moore City Council in 2000 and considers the OKC bombing to have been committed by the federal government.