JAN. 28, 2008

GOVERNMENT POLICY
Religious leaders’ political endorsements

As the presidential primaries head into overdrive, endorsements by religious leaders are adding interesting twists to an already fascinating election season – and in some cases drawing the attention of watchdog groups. Although 70 percent of registered voters say it’s inappropriate for clergy to speak publicly on behalf of or against a specific candidate, politicians continue to court such support, and in recent weeks, they’ve frequently gotten it.

Democrat Hillary Clinton won the backing of an influential Harlem pastor. Republican Mike Huckabee has successfully tapped into a variety of lesser-known evangelical networks and gained from their organizational help and influence. And two clergy endorsements of Democrat Barack Obama made news in January: one by the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, the Houston megachurch pastor who’s considered one of President George W. Bush’s spiritual advisers (Caldwell emphasized that his political support was not as a pastor, but as an individual), and one by a Pentecostal minister during a church service in Nevada. The latter prompted Americans United for Separation of Church and State to seek an Internal Revenue Service investigation.

That watchdog group and others like it contend that some worship services seem more like campaign rallies when candidates take over the pulpit, and the groups question whether churches and other tax-exempt groups are flouting the federal law that limits their political activities.

At the same time, some faith groups and their supporters are fighting back. A Wisconsin church and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty placed an ad in The Wall Street Journal in January accusing the IRS of misusing the tax rules to muzzle charitable groups. Other organizations are working to make sure clergy members understand their free-speech rights, and in some instances are offering legal advice and assistance to test IRS limits.

In Washington, U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., has again introduced a bill that would scrap the 1954 amendment to the tax code that restricts churches’ political involvement. His proposal (search for H.R. 2275) has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Meanwhile, the IRS continues to respond to allegations of improper politicization of tax-exempt groups – allegations that jumped markedly (from 166 referrals in 2004 to 237 in 2006) during the last federal election cycle.

What's new

• A Nevada pastor’s backing of Barack Obama during a January 2008 church service prompted Americans United for Separation of Church and State to request an Internal Revenue Service investigation.
• January brought other key endorsements for Obama, including one by Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of a Houston megachurch and longtime spiritual adviser to President George W. Bush. Caldwell emphasized that he was speaking not as a pastor, but as an individual. Obama also was invited to the pulpit at the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s home church, Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist, an invitation that National Public Radio called “a de facto endorsement.”
• Hillary Clinton received the backing of an influential Harlem pastor, the Rev. Calvin Butts of Abyssinian Baptist Church. Read a Jan. 20, 2008, Newsday account.
• In some states, ministers are being invited to closed-door, expenses-paid briefings at which candidates or their key supporters speak. The sessions are aimed at spurring the ministers to encourage their flocks to vote, and organizers say they are issues-driven, not partisan. Critics, however, suspect otherwise. In January 2008, the Texas Freedom Network asked the IRS to investigate whether such briefings “improperly sought to drag churches” into that state’s 2006 gubernatorial election. The Texas program has been called a model for similar briefings being held this year before certain presidential primaries. See a Jan. 19, 2007, Dallas Morning News story about how the Texas meetings have become a model for other states.
• A Jan. 16, 2008, ad in The Wall Street Journal accuses the IRS of misusing federal law to keep clergy from preaching about politicians and political issues. A Wisconsin church and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty placed the ad, which Americans United for Separation of Church and State described as misleading.
• Other Christian organizations are also speaking out about churches’ and pastors’ free-speech rights, which the groups say have been impinged by overzealous watchdogs and the IRS. Read guidelines that five of these groups issued to help religious leaders.

Questions for reporters

• How are religious organizations and leaders in your community responding to IRS scrutiny?
• Where do they stand on federal legislation that would allow religious groups and leaders to engage in political activity without risking their tax-exempt status?
• Have there been any complaints about religious groups or leaders endorsing political candidates in your community?
• How do members of congregations feel about such political involvement?
• Where do local political leaders stand on the issue?

Why it matters

Religion has always played a unique role in American politics. The United States has a long history of religious leaders acting as the conscience and moral compass of the nation. With both parties seeing pitched battles for the presidential nominations this year and with so much at stake in November, more religious leaders and religious groups may be tempted to or will let their views on various issues of the day be known. That will likely intensify IRS scrutiny.

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

For more sources, see ReligionLink's Guide to Church-State Sources.

GOVERNMENT
• Steven Miller is director of the IRS exempt organizations division in Washington, D.C. Contact media relations, 202-622-4000.
• U.S. Rep. Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C., is the sponsor of the latest measure (H.R. 2275) to repeal the 1954 law limiting nonprofit groups’ involvement in politics. Contact 202-225-3415.

LEGAL
• The Rev. Barry Lynn is executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church, and State, which opposes church political activity. The group’s Project Fair Play works to educate religious leaders about what’s permissible and what’s not. Contact Joe Conn, 202-466-3234, conn@au.org.
• Kevin Hasson is chairman and president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Contact through Tom Carter, 202-349-7205, tcarter@becketfund.org.
• The American Center for Law & Justice defends religious freedom and freedom of speech. Contact 757-226-2489.
• The Alliance Defense Fund works “to aggressively defend religious liberty” through training, support and in some cases litigation. It is one of five groups working jointly to fight what they call efforts to muzzle ministers in election season. Contact 800-835-5233 or through the Web site.
• The James Madison Center for Free Speech supports litigation and education activities on behalf of free speech. Along with the Alliance Defense Fund, the center has offered to give churches and clergy free advice and legal opinion letters about allowable political activities. James Bopp Jr. is the center’s general counsel. Contact 812-232-2434, jboppjr@aol.com.
• Brad Dacus is president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which often lends legal support for conservative religious causes. Contact 916-857-6900, pji@pacificjustice.org.

RELIGIOUS

INTERFAITH
• The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy is executive director of the Interfaith Alliance. In response to the Rev. Calvin Butts’ endorsement of Clinton, Gaddy issued a statement of concern “about candidates using clergy and houses of worship as political props.” He distributed a similar statement after Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson announced in August 2007 that he was supporting Obama. Contact through William Blake, 202-238-3291.

CHRISTIAN
• Leith Anderson is head of the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals. It supported the "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005," but it also reached out to the National Council of Churches in an effort to protect all religious groups, liberal or conservative, from what they see as selective targeting by the IRS. Contact 202-789-1011, president@nae.net.
• Robert W. Edgar is general secretary of the National Council of Churches. The group opposed the "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005," saying it would endanger "both the integrity of the electoral process and the historic American concept of a prophetic religious community that explores issues from a moral and spiritual perspective but carefully refrains from playing partisan politics." Contact director of media relations Dan Webster, 212-870-2252, dwebster@ncccusa.org.
• Raymond Flynn is chairman of the Catholic Alliance, a former mayor of Boston and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. His group supported the "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005." Contact 202-544-9600, deallaw@aol.com.
• Richard Land is president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Contact Jill Martin, 615-782-8417, jmartin@erlc.com.
• James C. Dobson is founder, former president and chairman of the board for the conservative group Focus on the Family. His group supported the "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005." Contact Christopher Norfleet, 719-548-4570, culturalissues@family.org.

JEWISH
• Nathan Diament is director of the Institute for Public Affairs with the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, based in New York. Contact 202-513-6484, ipadc@ou.org.
• Rabbi Daniel Lapin is head of the conservative Jewish group Toward Tradition and supported the "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005." Contact 206-236-3046 or 800-591-7579, mail@towardtradition.org.

BUDDHIST
• Bill Aiken is director of public affairs for Soka Gakkai International-USA, an American Buddhist association based in Santa Monica, Calif., that opposed a 2005 attempt to lift IRS restrictions on churches’ political activities. That attempt was known as the “Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005.” Contact 301-346-0167, waiken@sgi-usa.org.

Background

IRS RULES
• In November 2007, the IRS issued a reminder to tax-exempt organizations to avoid campaign activities.
• Read a background page about churches, charities and politics on the Internal Revenue Service Web site.

• Read the IRS’ rules on tax exemption for religious groups.
  
• Read IRS rules for charities on political and lobbying activity.
  
• Read an IRS report on its 2006 Political Activities Compliance Initiative.
  
• Read remarks made Feb. 24, 2006, (scroll halfway down the page) by Mark Everson, who was IRS commissioner at the time, about his agency’s role in monitoring charitable groups’ election activities. The IRS stepped up its education and oversight efforts “to address what we saw as increasing political intervention” by tax-exempt groups in 2004, he said. The speech listed some of the violations confirmed by investigators.

MORE ON TAX EXEMPTIONS
• Read the First Amendment Center's backgrounder on tax exemptions for religious groups, including FAQ and relevant court cases. The center also offers a Q&A on religion and politics from The Associated Press.
• Read “Legal Dos and Don’ts” for churches and pastors, posted by iVoteValues.com, a Web site of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
• The American Center for Law & Justice offers a resource page on churches' tax-exempt status. ACLJ has frequently argued in court for the right of churches to engage in politics.
• Americans United for Separation of Church and State has this FAQ on electioneering by houses of worship.
• See Politics and Pulpit 2008: a Guide to IRS Restrictions on the Political Activity of Religious Organizations, a resource from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
• About.com offers a collection of articles on religious tax exemption under its atheism category.

POLLS
• PollingReport.com offers a collection of polls on Americans' opinions on politics and religion.
• Read poll data on religion and politics from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

ARTICLES
• Read a Feb. 14, 2008, Los Angeles Times story about the IRS examining a California clergyman’s use of church letterhead to endorse Huckabee. According to the article, when it became public that Americans United for Separation of Church and State was asking the IRS to investigate, the pastor, Wiley S. Drake, encouraged supporters to pray for the deaths of two officials in the organization.
• Read a Jan. 20, 2008, Associated Press story about Houston megachurch pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell’s endorsement of Obama. The story appeared in the Houston Chronicle.
• Read a Jan. 19, 2008, Dallas Morning News story about attempts to boost the role of “values voters” in key states by holding closed-door briefings for pastors there before primaries. Organizers say the events are nonpartisan and are focused on issues rather than individuals, but in some cases particular candidates and/or their supporters are invited to address the ministers.
• Read a Jan. 14, 2008, Las Vegas Review-Journal article (scroll down midway) about a pastor’s backing of Obama during a worship service at the Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ. The comments prompted Americans United for Separation of Church and State to request an IRS investigation of the church.
• Read Mark Silk’s Jan. 14, 2008, post on the Spiritual Politics blog about the controversy over the Nevada pastor’s endorsement of Obama. Silk is director of the Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life and professor of religion in public life at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.
• Read a Jan. 3, 2008, CNSNews.com article about candidates’ pulpit appearances and whether the media are quicker to question the mixing of politics and religion when it involves Republicans. The article is posted by the American Center for Law & Justice.
• Read a Dec. 24, 2007, Dallas Morning News article about how Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has tapped into a variety of lesser-known evangelical networks and gained from their organizational help and their influence with voters.
• Read a Dec. 18, 2007, posting on Focus on the Family’s Web site about Christian organizations’ efforts to fight what they consider improper infringement on pastors’ and churches’ free-speech rights during elections.
• Read a 2000 Boston College Law Review article on the impact the religious tax exemption requirement has on American society.