In October, the pastor of an Indiana Church of Christ congregation woke up to find his church had been the target of some politically motivated vandals.
Minister Luke Jackson was as surprised as anyone to learn that overnight his church's message board had become an anti-Romney political ad, WANE reports.
One side of the South Broadway Church of Christ marquee read “Christ voted Democrat” and the other read “Romney hates women." Perhaps unsurprisingly, many church members quickly called Jackson to complain.
"One community member in particular had said, 'I don't believe a church should be promoting anything like that in a political way,' and I agreed 100 percent," Jackson told WANE.
In fact, the church is not allowed to promote a particular candidate, as per tax law.
Under the U.S. tax code, non-profit organizations such as churches may express views on any issue, but they jeopardize their favorable tax-exempt status if they speak for or against any political candidate, according to Reuters.
Jackson told WANE that he considered the pronouncements vandalism and notified authorities.
Indiana is not a swing state in the election, so debate in that state has been slightly less rancorous than in more high-stakes states. As of mid-October, Mitt Romney was leading in Indiana, according to Politico.
Church signs have been vandalized in the past to reflect all sorts of non-church sanctioned opinions.
In August, Calvary Baptist Church in Toney, Ala., was vandalized to say “No Whores” in black letters, according to WHNT. And in North Carolina, the Beulah Hill Baptist Church in West End was shocked to discover its sign had been defaced to ridicule the birth of a pop star's daughter, reading "Beyonce had her baby. Satan is on Earth," TMZ notes.
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