(OPINION) On May 22, Greg Locke announced that he is voluntarily removing Global Vision Church’s tax-exempt status. This came after some of Locke’s critics contacted the IRS, demanding an investigation into political comments the pastor made and claiming the church should lose its 501c3 status.
Locke shared that the church receives multiple hate calls and threats a day, saying, “You ought to see the pictures we have to send to the security team for the people that are going to be here to kill me in front of everybody.” The pastor told ChurchLeaders that he received a call this week from an event organizer who was canceling a speaking engagement of his in Kentucky due to protests and death threats.
Addressing his previous political comments, Locke called out news outlets for falsely reporting on his “insurrection” remark, saying, “You know, all of them are saying that I called last week to take up arms against the government. If they heard that, it’s because they’re smoking crack, or apparently they didn’t pay attention.”
An IRS investigation won’t shut down the church or Locke’s message, he said, standing behind his previous statement that “you can’t be a Christian and vote Democrat.” It was this statement that resulted in calls for an IRS investigation. In his May 22 sermon, Locke said that he hopes those who desired to see the church’s tax-exempt status revoked are listening closely, explaining how a church’s tax-exempt status works.
“Did you know that churches are tax-exempt automatically?” Locke said after expressing that he didn’t break the law by making political comments in a church service. “We don’t pay sales tax as a church and property taxes as a church, because churches in America make up 90% of giving to charitable organizations, single moms, and to the homeless and [feeding] people.
The church does more than the government does when it comes to that. We get people a hand-up; the government gives people a handout.” Locke continued: “If you give to a church just so you can write it off for Uncle Sam, you’re giving it for the wrong reason.”
Locke then shared that he contacted 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 renounce 501c3 communism in this church! So we’ll say what we want to skippy lou. The IRS, the FBI, and everybody we’ve been turned in to can eat my dirty socks on live TV. I’m sick of it!” “I revoke our 501c3 status and, IRS, we don’t give two flips what you think about it. We’re squeaky clean, give 90% of our money away, and we aren’t afraid of you. Because this is America, and we got a constitutional right to say what needs to be said,” Locke said. READ MORE
