Preacher Copeland Declares Holy War Against Senator

Pentecostal Preacher Pledges Holy War Against GOP SenatorBy Steve Benen,The Carpetbagger ReportIt hasn't generated a lot of headlines, but in the world of religion and politics, it's a pretty big deal. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, recently asked six high-profile, hyper-wealthy Pentecostal televangelists for their financial records, under the suspicion that they're using their ministries for personal gain. (Imagine that.)Not surprisingly, most of the televangelists' ministries have been loath to cooperate with the inquiry. One in particular is pledging a holy war.Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has gone after more than a few iconic nonprofits during his tenure atop the Finance Committee, including the Red Cross, Smithsonian and Harvard University.But now the Finance ranking member and former chairman may have met his match: televangelist Kenneth Copeland of the sprawling Kenneth Copeland Ministries based in Newark, Texas.In a Jan. 22 closed-circuit broadcast of his 2008 Ministers' Conference obtained by Roll Call, Copeland pledges a holy war against "Brother Grassley" and the Senate for attempting to get a look at the controversial ministry's finances. Grassley wrote a Nov. 6 letter to Copeland and five other prominent ministers requesting a variety of financial information."You render unto the government what belongs to the government. And you render unto God what belongs to God," Copeland loudly intones to approving murmurs from the crowd of 1,000 ministers and their guests.Oh, the irony is rich.These TV preachers believe the separation of church and state is some kind of Satanic, communist plot to be rejected by decent people everywhere. That is, right up until a senator wonders if perhaps they're abusing their tax-exempt status, at which point the church-state wall is high and impregnable.