Churches Protest Politicking Ban

The Alliance Defense Fund promised free legal support to more than 30 churches that agreed to challenge the federal ban on political speech in sermons last month.

But the alliance, a Scottsdale, Ariz., nonprofit group that argues cases on behalf of Christian causes, may come under scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service for encouraging pastors to cross the line between church and state, say legal and religious scholars.

The alliance recruited 31 ministers in 22 states to deliver sermons intended to deliberately challenge the 1954 law prohibiting charitable organizations — those recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code — from engaging in partisan political activity. The alliance has said it is seeking to push the issue into the courts to challenge the constitutionality of the law.

“It’s not about me politicking from the pulpit, it’s about me applying the morals of Scripture to everything in life,” said Gus Booth, pastor of the Warroad Community Church, in Warroad, Minn., one of many ministers who said his sermon was meant to defend his First Amendment rights of free speech.

“I looked at the candidates and evaluated their positions using Scripture, and came to the conclusion that Mr. McCain’s positions are more scriptural — they line up 100 times better than Mr. Obama’s,” Mr. Booth said.

The IRS, which does not discuss its investigations in public, says it is aware of press reports about the alliance’s effort to challenge the law, and will take action as appropriate, according to a spokesman, Steven J. Pyrek.

Low Risk for Churches

Robert W. Tuttle, professor of law and religion at the George Washington University Law School, said he thinks the churches clearly violated the law, which was passed in 1954 to prevent individuals from getting tax deductions for political donations. (Donations to tax-exempt political organizations are not tax-deductible.)

The IRS is not likely to take action against a church just because its minister stood up and endorsed a candidate, Mr. Tuttle said. Instead the church would have to do something that showed it is trying to subvert the tax laws, such as soliciting money because of a political stance.

Even the alliance acknowledges that the possible penalties for individual churches, if any, would probably be inconsequential.

“A tax imposed directly on the speech activity that violates the IRS speech restriction would be difficult for the IRS to calculate and would probably not be very great in amount (i.e. the amount of electricity for the time of the sermon),” the alliance notes in a written statement.

Ethical Standards

However, the alliance’s role in organizing the event and encouraging the pastors by offering advice and free legal services could land it in hot water, said Mr. Tuttle and others.

Three former IRS officials, now lawyers at the firm Caplin & Drysdale, in Washington, told the tax agency last month in a formal complaint that the alliance’s lawyers had trampled ethical standards by “inducing churches to engage in conduct designed to violate federal tax law in a direct and blatant manner.”

A May 2008 brochure on the Alliance Defense Fund’s Web site, which has now been modified, reinforces the idea that the organization was heavily involved in managing the content of the sermons: “Each client church will assist the ADF in preparing a specific challenge,” it said, “that involves a pastor preaching from the pulpit where the sermon conflicts with the IRS speech restriction. Each pastor will prepare the sermon with the assistance and direction of the ADF to ensure maximum effectiveness challenging the IRS.”

Melissa Rogers, visiting professor of religion and public policy at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, points out that by September, the alliance had changed that information to a statement that “each pastor will prepare and deliver a sermon evaluating the current candidates for office in light of Scripture and church teaching and make specific recommendations based on that evaluation.”

The alliance also added a disclaimer to information about the pulpit challenge, saying in part that “any tax advice in this communication was not written and is not intended to be used for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties imposed by the Internal Revenue Code.”

Dale Showengerdt, a lawyer for the alliance, countered assertions that alliance officials had made previously that the effort was meant to challenge the law — instead saying they only wanted to force the IRS to better clarify what could and could not be said by pastors.

“The issue is that we’ve had pastors calling us every election cycle,” he said. “They come and ask us where is the line. We’re not really sure.”

Reading Scripture

Pastors who delivered sermons as part of the alliance challenge told The Chronicle they used Scripture to evaluate the positions of the presidential candidates Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, and John McCain, the Republican, on the issues of same-sex marriage or abortion. The seven pastors who could be reached were unanimous in their support of Mr. McCain.

Paul Blair, minister at Fairview Baptist Church, in Edmond, Okla., was one of several pastors who acknowledged that they visited the alliance’s offices in Arizona where the group gave an outline of what might be contained in a sermon and tips on talking with the news media. Even so, Rev. Blair is adamant that he was the sole author of his sermon. “I can assure you I had no assistance with my message or communications with other pastors,” he said.

Mr. Booth, pastor at the Warroad Community Church, said the issue of whether the alliance helped with his sermon fell under “client-attorney privilege.” “They’re going to be the attorneys. A good attorney will try to prepare you,” he said.

While the alliance says it is protecting pastors’ First Amendment rights, it has been more guarded about discussing its role in orchestrating the event, including inviting the ministers to its Arizona offices to help prepare for the sermons challenging the law and the news coverage that followed. Mr. Showengerdt said he was uncertain how many pastors had traveled to Arizona for guidance.

The Rev. Dave Roberts, of the Grace Bible Church, in Georgetown, Tex., said the alliance had told pastors that they should not discuss communication between themselves and the organization when talking with reporters.

On whether the alliance helped him write his sermon, Mr. Roberts replied: “Part of me would really like to answer that question.”