{"id":73674,"date":"2010-10-01T15:58:19","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T20:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2010\/10\/01\/pastors-defy-federal-tax-law-and-endorse-candidates-from-the-pulpit\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:13:37","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:13:37","slug":"pastors-defy-federal-tax-law-and-endorse-candidates-from-the-pulpit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2010\/10\/01\/pastors-defy-federal-tax-law-and-endorse-candidates-from-the-pulpit\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastors Defy Federal Tax Law and Endorse Candidates from the Pulpit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About 100 pastors across the country took part in &#8220;Pulpit Freedom Sunday&#8221; on Sept. 26 by endorsing political candidates during their sermons, <a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/pulpit-freedom-sunday-challenges-government\/story?id=11731772\">ABC News<\/a> reports. The event was organized as part of a protest against a provision in the Internal Revenue Code that bars houses of worship and other tax-exempt organizations from supporting or opposing political candidates or from otherwise intervening in political campaigns. (For a detailed discussion of restrictions on religious organizations&#8217; participation in the political process, go to the Pew Forum&#8217;s 2008 report, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/PublicationPage.aspx?id=913#3\">Politics and the Pulpit<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pulpit Freedom Sunday was first organized in 2008 by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alliancedefensefund.org\/Home\/ADFContent?cid=4690\">Alliance Defense Fund<\/a>, an Arizona-based Christian legal group. The group contends that by regulating what pastors may or may not say in a sermon, the government is violating religious leaders&#8217; right to freedom of speech. According to <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/washwire\/2010\/09\/26\/church-pastors-back-political-candidates\/\"><em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a>, the Alliance Defense Fund and the pastors who participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday are trying to force the Internal Revenue Service to challenge the pastors&#8217; actions in court, which would open the door for a lawsuit over the constitutionality of existing tax laws.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Sept. 28, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit group that advocates for maintaining the separation of church and state, filed a complaint with the IRS against Fairview Baptist Church in Edmund, Okla., one of the churches that participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday, according to <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/religion\/2010-10-01-politicalpulpits01_ST_N.htm\">USA Today<\/a><\/em>. The IRS has not yet responded to the complaint.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A recent <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/Politics-and-Elections\/Growing-Number-of-Americans-Say-Obama-is-a-Muslim.aspx#2\">survey by the Pew Research Center for the People &amp; the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion &amp; Public Life<\/a> finds that 70% of Americans oppose churches and other houses of worship endorsing specific candidates for public office, while 24% support houses of worship making such endorsements. The public is more divided on whether churches should express their views on social and political issues; 43% say they should express their views, while 52% say churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Continue the discussion on <b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/pewforum\">twitter<\/a><\/b> or <b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pewforum\">facebook<\/a><\/b>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About 100 pastors across the country took part in &#8220;Pulpit Freedom Sunday&#8221; on Sept. 26 by endorsing political candidates during their sermons, ABC News reports. The event was organized as part of a protest against a provision in the Internal Revenue Code that bars houses of worship and other tax-exempt organizations from supporting or opposing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":false,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[45,24],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-73674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-2010","category-religion","formats-report","research-teams-religion"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":331,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2010\/10\/01\/pastors-defy-federal-tax-law-and-endorse-candidates-from-the-pulpit\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Pastors Defy Federal Tax Law and Endorse Candidates from the Pulpit","parent_id":73674},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Pastors Defy Federal Tax Law and Endorse Candidates from the Pulpit","description":"About 100 pastors across the country took part in \"Pulpit Freedom Sunday\" on Sept. 26 by endorsing political candidates during their sermons, ABC News reports. 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