By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com
Members of the Lee County Board of Commissioners received a letter Thursday from a Wisconsin-based foundation expressing legal concerns over its vote last November to award $500,000 in federal grant funds to a local group affiliated with a Sanford-based church that still has not received approval from the IRS to operate as a tax-exempt organization or to receive grant funding.
The letter, dated March 23 and sent by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, effectively puts the commissioners on notice that they could face legal action if they vote again to award funding from federal COVID relief dollars to the Life Springs Action Team (LSAT), a group directly connected to the Life Springs Church on Keller-Andrews Road in Sanford.
The Foundation, which claims 39,000 members across the country, claims to exist “to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.” The letter, written by staff attorney Christopher Line, was generated following a report from “a concerned Lee County resident.”
The three-page communication recounts much of the history of the church’s attempts over a period of six months to gain the requisite approvals from federal and state agencies to achieve tax-exempt status. Those permissions would have to be in place before the county could make the award to Life Springs and the church has said it will apply again when the necessary documentation has been received.
“We write to remind the Board that this type of church funding is unconstitutional and the grant should never have been approved in the first place,” Line wrote. “Government funds cannot be given away to churches in order to help advance their religious mission.”
The commissioners suspended their own rules on November 14 and approved the grant by a vote of 6-1 without taking the recommendation of then-County Manager Dr. John Crumpton to study the proposal and vote later. Democrat Robert Reives Sr. was the only commissioner to vote against making the grant that night.
At another meeting several weeks later, the two remaining Democratic commissioners, Mark Lovick and Cameron Sharpe, said publicly that they, too, could no longer support Life Springs’ efforts to obtain the money.
Line wrote his letter was “to remind the Board that this type of church funding is unconstitutional, and the grant should never have been approved in the first place. Government funds cannot be given away to churches in order to help advance their religious missions.”
The LSAT’s board of directors consists exclusively of members from the church and its proposal to the commissioners for funding spoke of its work in meeting the “spiritual” needs of families it works with.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation was formed in 1976 and has been active in the years since by becoming involved in legal challenges across the country that center around issues concerning the principle of separation of church and state. It has successfully challenged the legitimacy of a long listing of federal and state programs that are faith-based in nature.
It’s unknown at this point whether the commissioners will give consideration to this or any other veiled threat to sue over their action to fund the Life Springs Dream Center proposal. Recent history, though, suggests that they may just decide to ride it out.
Commissioners faced a similar threat in September 2021 over the redrawing of the county’s electoral districts. At the time, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham pointed out the potential for legal action against the county. The commissioners ignored the letter, and no lawsuit was ever filed.
With Republicans now in control of much of the state’s court systems, including the North Carolina Supreme Court, the Foundation’s chances of prevailing in a case against the county are not as strong as they might have been even six months ago.
But even a few rounds of action and potential appeals could erode the time before the deadline for obligating the county’s remaining allotment of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which is the last day of 2024. And the commissioners would have to decide how much county funding they’d be willing to put toward court costs.
I hope these crooks get arrested!
The ‘founding fathers’ knew the importance of “separation of church and state” from their experience with religious oppression in Europe. It is unfortunate that citizens 200+ years later have little or no understanding of the concept or the principle of “freedom of religion” on which this country was founded.
Once this gets to court, it will be easy to trace the money through discovery and prove the bribes/kickbacks that everyone knows are behind this farce. I think that would be hilarious, especially if the right politicians end up in jail for corruption.
Separation of Church and State is not in the Constitution. Look it up and see. This phrase is thrown around too much and out of context.
Let it go people. Life Springs Dream Center didn’t get the money. If you don’t like the way the commissioners are doing their job, then put your name on the ballot and run for a position next time. Over all, please seek the truth about Jesus, if not at Life Springs Church, then any Church that preaches the Good News!
I checked, and it definitely says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
In 1802, Thomas Jefferson wrote more on the intention of that part of the amendment, saying, “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”
Of course what all that actually means in practice is in constant debate. Just wanted to add those two quotes, given the subject of the article.
nonevilclone, correct me if I am wrong. The local county commissioners are not Congress, correct? providing funds to a religious organization is not establishing a religion. The first amendment applies to Congress establishing a national religious standard. Again Thomas Jefferson wrote this in a letter and holds no legal standing other than an insight into his thinking on the 1st Amendment. Even then there is nothing that prevents government agencies from providing public funds to organizations of a religious nature. We have freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion.
I agree the whole situation stinks and was handled poorly. I even believe favoritism was shown, however enough with the kickbacks and bribes. Unless someone has evidence of this it is an absolutely stupid subject to talk about. I believe a lot of the board are idiots but not crooks.
The only kickback was getting republicans elected.
The simple answer is, thee is nothing that prohibits religious organizations from receiving public funds to support a non profit organization the church has created to provide a service. This lawsuit is frivolous and will not win. The first Amendment was written to ensure there is no established state religion by law. Allocating funds is not a law, it is a distribution of public funds that were designed to offset the impacts of COVID. The Salvation Army receives over 320 million a year from the federal government and they are a religious organization. SO there is precedent. My comments are not for or against this particular situation. Just a statement in regards to the action of government organizations having the ability to provide funds to religious organizations in general.
Depends on your definition of win. I think I read where the funds in question have a time limit as to then they have to be dispersed. Friviolous or not a court delay may force the Commissioners to award the funds to another organization or forfeit them altogether.
These people making the calls are domestic terrorists and should charged and punished as such. The court system should incarcerate these terrorists as an example to others. “ pour encourger les autres”