AU Lodges IRS Complaint Against Liberty University
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has, again, filed a complaint with the IRS asserting that Liberty University is misusing its status as a tax-exempt (501(c)3) organization. The original complaint can be read here.
For its part, Liberty barely addressed the merits of the complaint, instead saying that this was simply another attempt by the AU to intimidate Liberty. In fact, Mat Staver, the Liberty School of Law dean, said the school was considering legal action in response to the AU’s attempt to intimidate Liberty students:
“We’re now looking at whether we are going to respond by filing some kind of civil action against Americans United — because what they’re trying to do is essentially intimidate Liberty University, particularly the students, from exercising their constitutional right to vote,” he argues. “We’re not about to allow this organization to do that to Liberty University students.”
As noted in the discussion last year when AU filed a complaint against Liberty, the AU is frequently associated with criticisms of Christians in the military. It remains a “partnering link” on the MRFF page, and Michael Weinstein has claimed AU membership at one point.