Pastor Jack Hibbs implores Christians not to vote for Democrats: A 'death cult'
Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, California, took to social media this week to implore Christians not to vote for Democrats in November, calling the Democratic Party a "death cult" because of its support for legalizing abortion without any apparent limits.
In a video posted to his X account on Wednesday, Hibbs said that while "both parties drive me nuts," he considered the Democratic Party to be "100% pro-death" and a "death cult."
"Who should you vote for? For the Christian, it's super easy," he said. "If you pull back rhetoric and emotion, it's a slam dunk. There's one party that's more pro-life than the other."
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"The Democrat Party is, in fact, a bona fide, card-carrying, platform-holding, death cult," Hibbs added. "Kill the baby, even after its born, kill the baby. Just on this topic alone, a Christian cannot vote for a Democrat candidate."
Hibbs claims, "You cannot say to God, 'I am a lover of God, a lover of the Word, a lover of Jesus and I'm a follower of my Lord, but I'm going to vote to kill babies.'"
The megachurch pastor asserts that if former President Donald Trump, a Republican, gets reelected, "we're going to have a plethora of great people" in his administration, saying that by voting Republican, "you get a lot of good stuff."
Trump's presidency led to the selection of three U.S. Supreme Court Justices who voted to overturn the 1973 ruling that made abortion a national right in 2022, allowing states more freedom to regulate abortion. Since Trump's 2020 election defeat, there has been much internal debate over the revising of the GOP Party Platform to no longer include a call for a national abortion ban.
For his part, Trump has voiced his disagreement with state laws that ban abortion early in gestation, including a six-week abortion ban in Florida. He previously seemed to imply support for Florida's Amendment 4, which, if passed in November, would effectively allow for abortions for any reason up until the moment of birth.
"I think the six-week is too short," Trump, a Florida resident, told NBC News' Dasha Burns in a recent interview. "I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks."
Later, in an interview with Fox News, Trump said that he would not be voting for the pro-choice state amendment, though he reiterated his opposition to the six-week standard.
In his video, Hibbs acknowledged that the GOP platform is "not totally but is still a pro-life platform."
In February, Hibbs garnered controversy when he told his congregation during a worship service to vote for a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, former Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Steve Garvey.
Although Hibbs said he is not making the endorsement "in the pulpit," the atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a letter to the Internal Revenue Service asking them to revoke the tax-exempt status of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in response.
"In this instance, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills has breached the responsibilities of its tax-exempt status by openly endorsing a candidate for elected office," wrote Christopher Line of FFRF.
"We write to respectfully request that the IRS immediately investigate Calvary Chapel Chino Hills and ensure that it no longer receives the benefits of 501(c)(3) status and that donations made to the church are no longer treated as tax deductible."
The 1954 Johnson Amendment prohibits tax-exempt churches from participating or intervening in any political campaign, including through the publishing or distributing of statements, endorsing or opposing candidates for public office.
Calvary Chapel Chino Hills has been very active in registering members to vote and collecting tens of thousands of mail-in ballots to boost Christian turnout in the last few elections. Through its Real Impact ministry, the church has sought to equip other churches "to stand for righteousness in the public square.”
Hibbs drew the ire of congressional Democrats in February when he served as a guest chaplain in the U.S. House of Representatives, delivering an opening prayer on Jan. 30.
Hibbs isn't the only pastor who has made headlines for political statements.
In 2022, Pastor Jamal Bryant of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta criticized Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker from the pulpit and encouraged his congregation to vote for Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. Bryant claimed "white men" have been telling Walker what to do and that Georgia needs a "runner," not a "walker." In 2019, Bryant criticized rapper Kanye West from the pulpit for endorsing Trump.
Last month, Pastor Landon Schott, senior lead pastor of the multi-campus Mercy Culture Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas, suggested that Americans who vote for Democrats aren't Christian and that the Democratic Party as "The Demon Party."
