On Tuesday, Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued a release criticizing Philadelphia Pastor Herb Lusk, who, on Sunday, is hosting the "Justice Sunday III" rally. The event, which will be held at Lusk's Greater Exodus Baptist Church, will be broadcast nationwide. It is designed to rally support for the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr. Americas United said that Lusk has a long history of partisan activity on behalf of Republicans and has been awarded more than $1 million in "faith-based" grants by the Bush administration. Yesterday's New York Times explored Lusk's background further.
Rev. Barry W. Lynn, exeutive director of AU, said: "Government funding too often sucks churches into partisan politics. After all, if church leaders want to keep the pipeline to tax funding open, they had better back administration policies."
Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum will be among those speaking at the Justice Sunday rally, according to yesterday's Pittsburg Post-Gazette.
