As furor mounts about IRS scrutiny of conservative non-profit groups, evangelist Franklin Graham is raising hellfire over tax audits of two organizations he leads: the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the relief group Samaritan’s Purse. He wrote a letter this week to President Obama asserting that “someone in the Administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us.”
The BGEA ran ads in 2012 supporting a North Carolina amendment banning same-sex marriage, and also ran ads urging voters to consider candidates who make decisions based on “biblical principles and support the nation of Israel.”
From Religion News Service:
“I do not believe that the IRS audit of our two organizations last year is a coincidence — or justifiable,’’ wrote Graham, who last year apologized to the president for seeming to question Obama’s Christian faith.
He said his organizations learned after the fall election that they could continue to be tax-exempt. But Graham said the audits “wasted taxpayer money” and “precious resources.”
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