Pastor That Screamed ‘You Cannot Be Christian and Vote Democrat’ Drops Tax-Exempt Status: ‘I Renounce 501(c)(3) Communism in this Church!’

Far-right Tennessee Pastor Greg Locke told his congregation on Sunday that he dropped his tax-exempt status after a non-profit group urged the Internal Revenue Service to look into his politically charged sermons.

Locke, who is the pastor at Mt. Juliet’s Global Vision Bible Church, outside of Nashville has stirred plenty of controversy for his outlandish sermons that have urged his followers not to get vaccinated, claimed VP Kamala Harris is leading a sex trafficking ring, and most recently that Christians can’t be Democrats.

“You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation. I don’t care how mad that makes you. You can get as pissed off as you want to,” he screamed during a sermon in mid-May.

“You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation. They are God-denying demons that butcher babies and hate this nation,” he raged.

Americans United For Separation of Church and State (AUSCS) sent a letter to the IRS urging the agency to investigate Locke and his Chruch’s status as a 501(c)(3) organization – which are not allowed to “participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements)” any political campaign.

The AUSCS’s May 16th letter, said, “Though Locke stated he was not a ‘full-fledged Republican,’ he clearly told his congregants to vote against the Democrats, from the pulpit of his church.”

“This violates the law and we ask for an investigation into Locke’s conduct under 26 U.S.C. § 7611,” wrote attorney Ian Smith.

Locke responded, as reported by Newsweek, in a live stream on Facebook:

Guess what I did this week. I got an attorney and I dissolved our stinking 501c3 in this church because the Government ain’t gonna tell me what I can and what I can’t say. So, IRS we don’t need your stupid tax-exempt status. You can put it in a bag and burn it in your front yard for all we care. I renounced 501c3 communism in this church.

UPDATE: Greg Locke said today that he “dissolved” his church’s 501(c)(3) status. “IRS, we don’t need your stupid tax exempt status! You can put it in a bag and burn it your front yard for all we care! I renounce 501(c)(3) communism in this church!” https://t.co/4FZBHbClHG

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) May 23, 2022

 
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