{"id":34178,"date":"2011-12-05T12:29:35","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T19:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=34178"},"modified":"2012-02-20T06:47:35","modified_gmt":"2012-02-20T13:47:35","slug":"megachurch-pastors-political-activity-scrutinized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/12\/megachurch-pastors-political-activity-scrutinized\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor\u2019s political activity scrutinized"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_34180\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 225px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-34180\" title=\"Smothermon, Steve\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Smothermon-Steve.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"187\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Smothermon<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The IRS prohibits nonprofits from participating in politics. Over the weekend, the Albuquerque Journal explored one megachurch pastor\u2019s involvement in politics in that context.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.legacychurchnm.com\/index.cfm\/pageID\/1624\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Smothermon<\/a>, pastor at the nearly 20,000-member <a href=\"http:\/\/www.legacychurchnm.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Legacy Church<\/a> in Albuquerque: \u201cThe church is one thing, and I\u2019m another thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pastor is heavily involved in politics. Check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmnewsandviews.com\/2011\/07\/14\/pastor-smothermon-calls-for-king-and-white-to-resign\/\" target=\"_blank\">this link<\/a> to a web page for the radio program New Mexico News and Views in which Smothermon called for the resignations of Attorney General Gary King and then-Albuquerque Public Safety Director Darren White.<\/p>\n<p>The Journal went in-depth into Smothermon\u2019s disputes with Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry and Albuquerque School Board Member Kathy Korte, and his support for politicians including former Albuquerque City Council candidate Greg Payne.<\/p>\n<p>And though Smothermon said his support is different from the church\u2019s, the Journal documented Smothermon talking with his congregation about politicians, including slamming Berry as someone who \u201cwon\u2019t stand up for anything\u201d and praising Payne as someone who \u201cespouses our beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smothermon was quoted as saying he doesn\u2019t seek out candidates. They come to him.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>From the newspaper:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIn a Journal interview, Smothermon stressed that he is a pastor, not a politician, and that candidates approach him, not the other way around. He said he has \u2018never solicited one candidate\u2019 to show up at Legacy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead, \u2018candidates constantly call me,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe will introduce them to the church, Democrats and Republicans alike. He reads a few bullet points, and the candidates don\u2019t get to speak during the service. They can set up a table outside where churchgoers can question them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You can read the Journal\u2019s in-depth article on Smothermon\u2019s political involvement <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/main\/2011\/12\/04\/news\/pulpit.html\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>, and a sidebar about Korte\u2019s experience with Legacy Church <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/main\/2011\/12\/04\/news\/legacy-church-members-urged-korte-to-fight-west-stadium.html\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The IRS prohibits nonprofits from participating in politics. Over the weekend, the Albuquerque Journal explored one megachurch pastor\u2019s involvement in politics in that context.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,177,269],"class_list":["post-34178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-albuquerque","tag-religion","tag-steve-smothermon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}