With presidential primary season upon us, it's once again time to observe the electioneering commandment for churches: thou shalt not endorse candidates from the pulpit. All non-profit organizations enjoying a 501(c)(3) tax exemption must follow the same rule, which protects both the electoral process (from campaign finance abuse) and the integrity of churches (from being exploited and compromised by political campaigns).
Abstaining from picking a side in an election also saves a congregation from unnecessary division and strife along political fault lines.
With all of those excellent incentives, most clergy already have the good sense to stay away from pulpit endorsements.
For everyone else, there's the ADF's Pulpit Freedom Sunday this weekend, in which ministers flout the law, endorse candidates from the pulpit, and dare the IRS to cause trouble. Their goal is to provoke a legal challenge to the tax-exemption regulations, despite courts' clear decisions in such matters, as AU's Joseph Conn points out:
In May of 2000, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the IRS had acted within the scope of its authority when it revoked the exemption of a New York church that opposed presidential candidate Bill Clinton….
Writing for the unanimous court, Senior Circuit Judge James Buckley found that “the revocation of the Church’s tax-exempt status neither violated the Constitution nor exceeded the IRS’s statutory authority.”
Elsewhere, Judge Buckley soundly rejected the argument that the IRS has no legal authority to deal with the tax exemption of churches…
Ministers are of course free to engage in political activityto their heart's content on their personal time, without the use of church resources. And churches can of course advocate on the issues of the day – so long as that advocacy doesn't amount to a wink-wink campaign endorsement. But when it comes to pulpit endorsements, following the rule is good for our politics, good for religion, preserves a church's tax exemption, helps maintain congregational health.
When a campaign comes calling, just say no.
