Posted on 10/01/2012 1:06:43 PM PDT by marshmallow
Americans United for Separation of Church and State evidently sent copies of this letter to 60,000 pastors recently. It’s important to remember that Americans United is not an official agency of any governmental entity. This letter has no force of law and is just their opinion. Our local AU affiliate here in Oklahoma has sent similar letters to pastors in my House district in the past. The pastors I talked to about it tell me they threw it in the trash.
Nah, just bring "BRING IT" in big red letters, THEN send it back.
It is over half a century after 1954, and LBJ has been dead a few decades. Why has this law not been repealed? Is it too convenient for enough of the current crop of politicians?
Translation: “Nice church ya got there, pastor....too bad if anything wuz ta happen to it...”
Someone should tell Obama’s Chicago spiritual advisor...oh, wait.
These are guidelines provided by the Alliance Defense Fund (now the Alliance Defending Freedom). I have given below their guidelines which I derived from their PDF document so my FRriends can have a quick look at what freedoms we do have in our churches. I give it this way so one can copy and paste it for their own use. For the full report, go here:
http://www.speakupmovement.org/church/content/userfiles/Pastors_Guidelines_2011_rev_031411.pdf
For the Alliance Defending Freedom’s web page for more information and news, go here:
http://www.alliancedefendingfreedom.org/page/new-name?referral=I0712AW2
Items of Political Activity:
Note: Those activities pertaining to the church are all official actions of the church body. Those activities of the pastor pertain to activities that are actions as an individual rather than an official church representative.
1. Discuss the positions of candidates on issues. Church: Yes. Pastor: Yes.
2. Endorse or oppose candidates. Church: No. Pastor: Yes.
3. Financial contributions to candidates Church: No. Pastor: Yes.
4. In-kind contributions to candidates. Church: No. Pastor: Yes.
5. Independent expenditures supporting or opposing candidates. Church: No. Pastor: Yes.
6. Contributions to political action committees (PACs). Church: No. Pastor: Yes.
7. Payment of expenses for attendance at a caucus or
state/national political party convention. Church: No. Pastor: Yes.
8. Appearance of candidate at church meeting or service. Church: Yes. Pastor: N/A.
9. Non-partisan voter registration activities. Church: Yes. Pastor: Yes.
10. Non-partisan voter identification activities. Church: Yes. Pastor: Yes.
11. Non-partisan get-out-the-vote activities. Church: Yes. Pastor: Yes.
12. Non-partisan voter education. Church: Yes. Pastor: Yes.
13. Lobbying for or against legislation. Church: Yes. Pastor: Yes.
14. Expenditures related to state referendums(Note: Lobbying activities may expose churches in some states to election law register and reporting requirements as a political committee. Many of these statutes are unconstitutional because they expose churches to intrusive regulations for a very small amount of lobbying. If you find your church exposed to such state election law requirements, contact ADF immediately so an attorney can review your situation). Church: Yes. Pastor: Yes.
15. Distribution of:
a. Candidate surveys or voter guides. Church: Yes. Pastor: Yes.
b. Voting records of incumbents. Church: Yes. Pastor: Yes.
c. Candidate campaign literature. Church: No. Pastor: Yes.
16. Distribution by others of political materials in church parking lots. Church: Yes. Pastor: N/A.
17. Rental of church membership lists at regular rates. Church: Yes. Pastor: N/A.
18. Rental of church facilities at regular rates. Church: Yes. Pastor: N/A.
19. Church publications:
a. Political ads at regular rates. Church: Yes. Pastor: N/A.
b. News stories about candidates or campaigns. Church: Yes Pastor: N/A.
c. Editorials endorsing or opposing candidates. Church: No. Pastor: N/A.
Explanations of Guidelines:
Item 1. Discuss the positions of candidates on public issues. Pastors and churches are free to discuss the positions of candidates on issues—including criticizing or praising them for their positions. This is called issue advocacy.
Item 2. Endorse or oppose candidates. Endorsing or opposing a candidate includes any statement which uses explicit words to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, such as “elect,” “support,” “defeat,” or “oppose.” This is called express advocacy. Distributing campaign literature from a candidate is also prohibited express advocacy.
A pastor in his individual capacity, however, may endorse or oppose a candidate. The pastor may state his affiliation with his church, as long as it is indicated that this is for identification purposes only and that his endorsement is from him personally, not his church.
The IRS has taken the unequivocal position that a pastor may not endorse or oppose a candidate from the pulpit. Nevertheless, ADF believes that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects these statements from the pulpit, and ADF will vigorously defend the rights of pastors who choose to do so.
Churches and pastors may support or oppose the appointment of judicial, cabinet, or other non-elected officials so long as it does not involve a partisan selection process. This is considered lobbying, not active electioneering.
Item 6. Contributions to political action committees (PACs). A PAC is any organization of two or more people whose major purpose is to engage in active electioneering by contributing to candidates or by expressly advocating the election or defeat of candidates for political office. Contributions to PACs from church funds are forbidden, and churches may not organize PACs.
Item 8. Appearance of a candidate at a church meeting or service. A candidate may appear at a church service. The appearance of a candidate before a church service, however, is limited as follows:
(1) All legally qualified candidates should be invited;
(2) The questions should be prepared and presented by an independent non-partisan panel;
(3) The topics discussed should cover a broad range of issues of interest to the public;
(4) Each candidate should have an equal opportunity to present his or her views on the issues discussed; and
(5) The moderator should not comment on the questions or otherwise make comments that imply approval or disapproval of the candidates.
Candidates may be introduced at a church service or may preach or read scripture without any restrictions. In addition, public officials who are also candidates, may be invited to speak to a church as a public official, without complying with the above requirements, if no reference is made to the public official’s candidacy, if the public official speaks only in his or her capacity as a public official, and if there is no campaign activity in connection with the public official’s appearance.
Items 9, 10 & 11. Non-partisan voter registration, voter identification, and get-out-the-vote activities. A church may participate in non-partisan voter registration, voter identification, and get out the vote activities. To be non-partisan, these activities may not be directed at the supporters of any particular candidate or political party. A church may, however, direct these activities at certain groups using non-partisan criteria, such as church membership, geographic location or position on certain issues. Furthermore, such activities will not be viewed as non-partisan if they are accompanied by literature praising or criticizing particular candidates or political parties for their positions on issues.
Item 12. Non-partisan voter education. Churches may participate in non-partisan voter education. Here, voter education involves discussion of the electoral process, such as how to run for public office or delegate, how to register, and where to vote. All these activities are permissible as long as they are not directed at supporters of a particular candidate or political party.
Item 13. Lobbying for or against legislation. Churches may spend an “insubstantial” amount of their funds yearly on lobbying. An insubstantial amount is generally considered 5 to 15 percent of a church’s funds. Lobbying is of two types: (1) direct lobbying, which involves direct communications with governmental officials regarding legislative or executive action, and (2) grass roots lobbying, where the church communicates with its members or the general public, urging them to contact governmental officials in support of or in opposition to legislative or executive action. As a result, a church may discuss legislative issues, support or oppose legislation, encourage its members or the general public to support or oppose legislation, and support other organizations with their lobbying efforts. Furthermore, churches may lobby candidates about issues and distribute educational material to candidates or at political events, as long as this is being done to get out the church’s message and not to assist any candidate.
Item 14. Expenditures related to state referendums. Churches may make expenditures in connection with state referendums, including making a financial or in-kind contribution to a referendum effort. Such expenditures are considered direct lobbying. In addition, state election laws should be consulted for any requirements imposed on state referendum activities.
Some state election laws require organizations that lobby on initiatives and referendums to register as a political committee and be subject to reporting and disclosure requirements. Many of these state election law requirements are unconstitutional as applied to churches because they subject churches to intrusive disclosure and reporting requirements based on a very small amount of lobbying activity. ADF has successfully challenged state election law register and reporting requirements as applied to churches that lobby on initiatives or referenda. If you find your church confronted with a state election law register and reporting requirement, contact ADF immediately so an attorney can review your situation.
Item 15. Distribution of candidate surveys or voter guides:
Churches may publish the results of surveys of candidates on public issues (often called “voter guides”). Voter guides should not include an endorsement of a candidate or otherwise expressly advocate the election or defeat of any candidate. Further, voter guides should not advocate voting for or against candidates who support or oppose particular issues, i.e., single issue voting. Churches also may distribute voter guides prepared by other organizations that meet these guidelines. As a result, church voter guides should conform to the following guidelines:
(1) Questionnaires should be sent to all candidates;
(2) The questions should cover a wide variety of issues;
(3) The questions should not indicate a bias toward the church’s preferred answer;
(4) The candidate’s responses should not be compared to the church’s preferred position;
(5) The responses should be published in the candidate’s own words or in a neutral, unbiased, and complete summary of the candidate’s position; and
(6) The survey should not be published under the direction or control, direct or indirect, of any candidate.
(b). Voting records of incumbents. Churches may also publish the voting records of incumbent public officeholders. In the case of publication of voting records, the church has more leeway than in publishing candidate surveys, as follows:
(1) Incumbent’s positions should not be compared to the positions of other candidates or the church’s position;
(2) The voting record should be distributed on a regular basis, not just at election time;
(3) The voting record should be broadly distributed to the general public, not targeted to certain voting blocks;
(4) A variety of issues of interest to the general public should be presented.
Item 16. Distribution by others of political materials in church parking lots. Under some state constitutions, if a church parking lot is open for public use, people have a free speech right to distribute literature there. Even if there is no such right, a church is not responsible for political literature distributed by others in their parking lot without their permission or consent, and a church has no obligation to bar people from distributing political literature there. In the same way, a church may choose to restrict its parking lot to only attendees who park there for church activities; the church need not allow literature distribution on its premises.
Item 17. Rental of church membership lists at regular rates. Churches may give candidates or political action committees access to church membership lists on the same basis that other non-church groups are allowed to have them. If other non-church groups are required to pay some cost for using the list(s), the candidate or PAC should be charged the same amount.
Item 18. Rental of church facilities at regular rates. Churches may allow candidates or political action committees to use church facilities for meetings or campaign appearances on the same basis as other non-church groups. If other non-church groups are required to pay some rent for using the church property, the candidate or PAC should be charged the same amount.
Item 19. Church publications:
(a). Political ads at regular rates. Church publications, such as church bulletins and newsletters, may include an advertisement for a candidate or political action committee, as long as the candidate or PAC purchases the ad at regular rates. If discounts are given to regular advertisers under certain circumstances, the same discounts may be extended to a political advertiser. A political ad may not otherwise be sold to a candidate at less than the regular rate, since this would constitute a financial contribution to the candidate. The political ad must be identified as paid political advertising, and the church must include a disclaimer stating it does not endorse the candidate. Advertising must also be solicited from all candidates on an equal basis.
(b). News stories about candidates or campaigns. Church publications may include news stories on candidates and political campaigns. The publication of voting records and candidate surveys are subject to the limitations delineated in Items 15 (a) & (b).
(c). Editorials endorsing or opposing candidates. Church publications, however, may not publish an editorial that endorses or opposes a candidate for office.
Why doesn’t this chump sending the letters include his telephone number?
As a man of the cloth, he certainly values personal feedback...
Don’t worry, they can’t back this threat up. Thousands of Pastors around the country have been challenging the IRS to attempt to enforce this regulation every year. Never happens. Not one of these cases has EVER gone to trial. The IRS ALWAYS dismisses. They know the law is blatently unconstitutional and refuse to allow a test case.
Allow me this one correction. It's REVERAND Barry Lynn ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. {Ok IMO so called reverand} but yea it's OK for him to be pushing his political agenda it seems.
Barry Lynn is a Communist, not a Christian. He pushes Communist values, fights Christian values. Loves Big Government. Hates God. Hates Jesus. Hates Christians. The United Church of Christ was taken over by Communists decades ago. One of them is Barry Lynn.
It looks to me like it is just friendly advice, many pastors do not keep up with politics, so they really can get into trouble.
The Reverend ( although i do not like the tittle ) is simply warning them that separation of church and state is no longer recognized by the government.
It does not sound to me like he is against the churches doing any campaigning but only concerned that they could get into trouble with the government by doing it.
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