Pastors take politics to the pulpit

By Bob Pool and My-Thuan Tran | Los Angeles Times

September 29, 2008

Dozens of pastors across the country took politics to the pulpit yesterday in hopes of influencing the Nov. 4 presidential election and setting off a legal fight over the Internal Revenue Service's restrictions on church involvement in politics.

While some pastors endorsed Republican John McCain during "Pulpit Freedom Sunday," others stopped short of explicitly recommending that worshipers vote for either McCain or Democrat Barack Obama. But they were not shy about raising politics in church.

The Rev. Steve Orman urged his congregation at Warner Avenue Baptist Church in Huntington Beach, Calif., to use the Bible as a voters guide and evaluate candidates and issues on the basis of Scripture.

The Rev. Wiley S. Drake suggested that those attending his sermon at the First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., vote for him - and for his presidential running mate on the American Independent Party ticket, Alan L. Keyes.

Drake asked his congregation to support the challenge to the federal ban on political campaigning by nonprofit groups.

"I am angry because the government and the IRS and some Christians have taken away the rights of pastors," Drake said to about 45 people at his service. "I have a right to endorse anybody I doggone well please. And if they don't like that, too bad."

A conservative legal group based in Arizona, Alliance Defense Fund, said it planned to support ministers testing the IRS rules. Congress made it illegal in 1954 for tax-exempt organizations to publicly support or oppose political candidates.

Other clerics and critics condemned yesterday's actions by the 33 pastors in 22 states. They warned that pulpit politicking would undercut the independence that churches have had to speak out about moral and ethical issues.

"Pastors have a responsibility to the whole of their flock to provide spiritual support and guidance" but not partisan political advice, said the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

But Erik Stanley, Alliance Defense Fund senior legal counsel, disagreed.

"If the First Amendment doesn't protect controversial speech," he said, "it protects no speech at all."

It was unclear how many of the ministers taking part in yesterday's action were actually crossing the IRS line.

In West Bend, Wis., the Rev. Luke Emrich told 100 worshipers at his evangelical New Life Church that "I would cast a vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin," adding, "it's your choice to make, it's not my choice."

The Rev. Jody Hice of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Bethlehem, Ga., compared Obama and McCain on abortion and gay marriage and concluded that McCain "holds more to a biblical world view."

At the independent Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Okla., the Rev. Paul Blair likewise told his congregation of his support for McCain.

Because the pastors were speaking in their official capacity as clergy, the sermons are clear violations of IRS rules, said Robert Tuttle, a professor of law and religion at George Washington University. But even if the IRS rises to the bait and a legal fight ensues, Tuttle said there's "virtually no chance" courts will strike down the prohibition.

"The government is allowed, as long as it has a reasonable basis for doing it, to treat political and nonpolitical speech differently, and that's essentially what it's done here," Tuttle said.

Under the IRS code, places of worship can distribute voters guides, run nonpartisan voter registration drives and hold forums on issues, among other things. But they cannot endorse a candidate, and their political activity cannot be biased for or against a candidate, directly or indirectly - a sometimes murky line.

The IRS said in a statement it is aware of yesterday's initiative and "will monitor the situation and take action as appropriate."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.