A Minnesota pastor accused of making political statements from the pulpit during last year's election season, will not be investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed the complaints against Rev. Gus Booth of Warroad Community Church in Warraod, Minn. last year. They claimed Booth and five other pastors were in violation of federal tax law because of their political comments about candidates.
     
But in a letter sent to Booth from the IRS said the matter was dropped because of a procedural issue. But that left the door open to future action.

Booth said he would have preferred the case had been taken to court to establish the right of pastors to preach what they believe, without the risk of losing their churches' tax-exempt status.

He also said that he intends to continue to preach about politics.