Christian Coalition Donations Decrease

After five years of explosive growth, contributions to the Christian Coalition declined last year for the first time, tax records show.

The bad financial news comes as the conservative religious group gathers here for its annual meeting, a session also dogged by a government lawsuit and an investigation by federal prosecutors of billing by one of the group’s vendors.

The conservative religious group reported donations of $18.7 million in 1995 - a decline of nearly 12 percent from the previous year, when supporters gave $21.2 million.

Coalition spokesman Mike Russell said the decline meant little because 1995 was a non-election year that gave the group’s state affiliates a chance to concentrate on their own local fund raising. Those dollars don’t show up on the national organization’s reports, he said.