Guidelines for Political Activities of Churches and Pastors

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From James Bopp, by James Bopp, Jr. General Counsel
James Madison Center for Free Speech
in association with the Alliance Defense Fund

Guidelines for Political Activities of Churches and Pastors

The following is a list of activities that may be considered political activities in the broad sense and that a church or pastor, in his individual capacity and using his own funds, may wish to do.

First, churches and pastors may discuss the positions of candidates on issues B including criticizing or praising them for their positions. This is called issue advocacy.

Second, pastors, as individuals, may endorse candidates, and publish their endorsements at their own expense. The endorsement of 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. A church may not engage in express advocacy, but a pastor, in his individual capacity, may.

Third, pastors as individuals may contribute to political candidates, churches may not. In‑kind expenditures are non‑cash benefits provided to a political candidate. Pastors may make in‑kind expenditures in favor of or against political candidates, but churches may not.

Fourth, pastors may make independent expenditures for such advertising as long as they don=t utilize church property. Churches may not make such expenditures. Independent expenditures are expenditures for advertising in favor of or against political candidates, that are not coordinated with the candidate, and are not approved by the candidate.

Fifth, pastors may contribute to political action committees, or PACs, but churches may not.

Sixth, pastors may pay the expenses for a person to attend a caucus of a state/national convention, churches may not.

Seventh, a political candidate may appear at a church service. The appearance of a candidate before a church service, however, is limited as follows: (a) any other candidate for the office or any other political party who is a candidate for the office who requests to appear must be given the same opportunity, and (b) no solicitation for funds for the candidate or endorsement of the candidate may be made by any representative of the church.

In addition, a church may allow political candidates to have a meeting or use the facilities of the church on the same basis that civic groups and other organizations are allowed to. If civic groups and other organizations are required to pay some rent for using the church property, the political candidate should be charged the same amount.

Eighth, a church may publish or distribute the results of surveys of candidates on public issues. Such surveys, however, must be non‑partisan. As a result, 501 (c) (3) church groups should observe the following conditions in publishing or distributing the survey:

1. publish the response of all the candidates for the particular office by use of "yes" and "no". Avoid use of "+" and "‑" or "pro‑life" and "anti‑life". The survey should not specify what is the desired response;

2. do not include any words indicating either endorsement of or support for any of the candidates or indicate that the reader should "vote pro‑life." Advocacy of one issue voting should be reserved for other issues of the church bulletin when the survey is not published; and

3. do not publish the response to the survey under the control, direct or indirect, of any candidate.

It is preferable that candidate surveys involve a variety of issues, but this is not required.

Ninth, 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. the church, in publishing the incumbent=s votes on particular issues, may indicate the church=s view and the fact that the incumbent supported or opposed the church=s view. Thus, "+" or "‑" or "pro‑life" and "anti‑life" may be used, and

2. in other respects, the publications should be non‑partisan. As a result, the voting records of all incumbents in the area should be presented, candidates for reelection should not be identified, no comment should be made on an individual=s overall qualifications for public office, and no statements expressly advocating the election or defeat of any incumbent as a candidate for public office should be offered.

Tenth, pastors may distribute candidate political statements at their own expense, but may not distribute them at church. Churches may not distribute candidate political statements, but they may permit distribution by others of candidate political statements in their church parking lot.

Eleventh, lists of members of the church congregation may be rented to candidates for their use in seeking support or raising funds. The candidate must pay the fair market value for the list, if it is rented from the church. The church must offer the list to all candidates on the same terms

Twelfth, a church 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, where to vote, helping or assisting people to register and get out the vote drives. All such activity is permissible as long as it is not directed at one party or candidate over another.

Thirteenth, a church may publish an ad for a political candidate in its bulletin or newsletter, as long as the ad is purchased at the regular rate for such ads published in that publication. If discounts are given regular advertisers under certain circumstances, the same discounts may be extended to the political advertiser. In addition, the church may be selective in printing adsBfor instance, only ads from pro‑life candidates may be accepted. A political ad may not be sold to a candidate at less than the regular rate since this would constitute a political contribution to the candidate.

Fourteenth, a church may publish without limitation news stories on political candidates, political campaigns and endorsements of political candidates by political organizations. The publication of voting records and candidate surveys in bulletins are subject to the limitations delineated in item nine above.

Fifteenth, a church may not publish an editorial supporting or endorsing a candidate for political office. This would be considered a church endorsement, which it may not do.

See also, comprehensive information at Political Responsibility Center of Priests for Life

http://www.politicalresponsibility.com/  


Index of Articles

Open letter to Ray Lahood - Stand Firm

Urgent: Defend Conscience Rights Now and How!

Quality of Life: A Hellish Formula

I was saddened to read this sermon from a professing Christian

Does All Reality Relate?

Notre Dame President Should Rescind Commencement Speaker Invitation

Where Are We Now? Where Are We Headed?

When will we Finally Win?

Praying for the President

Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The poor pitcher

Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The Consoled Catcher

Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The Meek First Baseman

Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The Hungry Second Baseman

Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The Merciful Third Baseman

Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The Pure-Hearted Shortstop

Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: Peace Flies Out of Left Field

Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The Centerfielder Who Bucked Systemic Persecution

Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The Persecuted Right Fielder

CIRTL Movie Ads at Willow Knolls and Pekin Showplace

The Pro-Life Essential

FLICA: Fair Labeling and Informed Consent Act

Letter to the Bishop of Peoria

Creation Ordinances

What Does 'Pro-Life' Really Mean to Us?

Another Response to What is Pro-Life?

The Killing of Tiller

Strange Irony in George Tiller's death

CIRTL Official Statement on Death of Dr George Tiller

Committing murder is not trusting in God

The Religious Right and George Tiller

Unity and Diversity

Life Line event

Alice and the Cheshire Cat - Defining Choice

More on Choice vs Coercion

Pastoral Letter re. United Way and Planned Parenthood

The Delicate Art of Manipulation

The Inadvertent Value of Garbage

Abortion right 'settled law': Sotomayor

Press release: CIRTL opposes stealth abortion amendment

Two saves in one day

Health Care and Abortion

Will Today's Killing Be Viewed as a "Hate Crime"?

To My Democratic Friends

Peoria, Illinois 2009 Abortion Statistics

Abortion is not Health Care

Today It Rained

Huge Expansion of Federal Abortion Spending

Let's Pray for Each Other

Health Care Proposals and the Stupak Amendment

Health Care Reform - What's the Alternative?

Little Shops of Horror

The Old War

Cain's Curses

Angry Birds Concoct Derision

Guidelines for Political Activities of Churches and Pastors

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CENTRAL ILLINOIS RIGHT TO LIFE, INC.

BLOG HOME PAGE LINK Illinoislife.blogspot.com

Angry Birds Concoct Derision

Angry Birds Concoct Derision

Hungering for justice, I turn to the Journal Star editorial page each morning at breakfast, eagerly looking for these apologies to satisfy my hunger.

“As your president, with great humility, I apologize for destroying the protections of conscience which our laws afforded all Americans before I took power. I am returning the Nobel Peace Prize, which I did not earn, but keeping as my watchwords those spoken by Mother Teresa in her Nobel Prize acceptance speech: The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing - direct murder by the mother.”

“I apologize to our Catholic Church, our hospitals, health care workers, bishops and my fellow Catholics for threatening them with policies which would close down our ministries of mercy to the sick and the dying. For my penance, after each cabinet meeting, I promise to volunteer to provide real health care, not contraceptives, to people suffering from real diseases.”

“Although we are only 14% of the faculty, we regret the embarrassment caused to the whole Notre Dame community, by sowing discord against Bishop Daniel Jenky. We adopt his courageous warning to our country not to follow the paths of other countries who have attacked the Catholic Church. For our part, we urge Notre Dame president Fr. Jenkins to award an honorary degree to Norma McCorvey, the original Roe in Roe vs. Wade, but now a pro-life Catholic mother proud of the daughter whom she contemplated aborting in the real war on women. [See http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_happened_to_the_Roe_v._Wade_baby ] With Dr. Alan Keyes and the other 86 peaceful persons arrested on our campus for praying outside where President Obama received honors, she deserves an honorary degree for the two years of persecution before dismissal of all criminal charges.”

“We apologize to Bishop Jenky for our Archie Bunker impressions, insinuating that he should just shut up. Our bigotry put him down as responsible for lax supervision of subordinates decades and even centuries before he became bishop.”

“We apologize for appropriating all the suffering of World War II to ourselves, forgetting that courageous Americans of all faiths were responsible for ending that suffering. In remembrance and gratitude, we pledge to watch Saving Private Ryan this Memorial Day.”

For my part, recalling that “Anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment,” I apologize in advance for any anger these words may cause those angry birds. Should they decide, however, to cast me into their “cereal” den of derision, I promise not to be angry, but rather, to be glad and rejoice, knowing that I could not be in better company. Lions, got room for another Daniel?

Daniel J. Smith

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CENTRAL ILLINOIS RIGHT TO LIFE, INC.

BLOG HOME PAGE LINK Illinoislife.blogspot.com

Cain's Curses

Cain's Curses

CAIN’S CURSES

Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.”

Genesis 4:8-15 (NIV).

In this account, Cain’s murder merited three curses: 1. Spiritually, God told this farmer that he was driven from his livelihood to become a restless wanderer. 2. Psychologically, he felt unbearable pain, rejection by God, and everyone’s derision. 3. Consequently, both a spiritual and psychological curse would fall seven times greater to those who would murder Cain.

Do Cain’s curses apply to parents who abort their children today? Our communication with God is not as direct as Cain's. Were it so, they might hear:

The Lord asks them, “Where is your child?”

They answer, “What child? Are we the keepers of products of our union which we do not want?”

The Lord replies, “What have you done? Listen! Your child’s blood cries out to me from the womb. From within, therefore, a curse will deprive you of the joy your livelihoods previously brought to you.”

They reply, “Our punishment is more than we can bear. We cannot escape our misery from within. We cannot find your presence which we previously took for granted. Everyone will despise us to death.”

The Lord says to them, “Not so, for most will not know of your conduct or its curses, and anyone killing you will be seven times cursed.”

Although their communication with God is not as direct, their psychological response appears the same. The accounts of post-abortion trauma are well documented.

http://afterabortion.org/1999/qa-finding-real-answers-about-abortion

Psychologically, the mothers and fathers of aborted children bear witness to the curses they have experienced from their abortions.

What about the third curse? Do we know anyone who has killed such a parent and experienced such curses on a multiple scale? One example comes to mind: O.J. Simpson. In a deposition he testified that his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson had three abortions.

http://articles.latimes.com/1996-03-02/news/mn-42126_1_nicole-brown-simpson/2

While he was able to escape conviction for murder, a subsequent civil jury found him liable to both the families of his ex-wife and friend, Ronald Goldman. The families were not able to collect multimillion dollar judgment against Simpson, but his livelihood was destroyed, he faced multiple civil and criminal trials and presently he is serving a 9 to 33 year sentence in prison. We will never know this side of heaven to what degree his downfall is attributable to Cain’s curses, but we can only hope for the grace of God to lead us away from such a wretched life's path.

More ominously, we must ask, however, whether Cain's third curse applies even to us, who do not commit abortions or other murders. If we take seriously Christ's words in the sermon on the mount, I think we must worry about that. “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. ... And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell." Matt. 5:21-22 (NIV). We know that abortions cause broken relationships afterwards, just as Cain learned. But as every relationship has at least two persons, logically, the dire consequences which follow are not limited to those who participate in the wrongdoing. Everyone's relationships with those participants likewise are damaged. How easy is it to snap back in anger against someone who does a perceived wrong, not realizing that the cause of the wrongdoer's conduct is a dark cloud that hangs over their life from a past abortion? Sure, we do not physically murder the person, but Christ's words do not so easily let us off the hook.

What then can we do? We cannot be angry. We must, in Christ's words, turn the other cheek, both in practice and in spirit. In place of anger, we must pray for the healing of those who persecute us. By God’s grace and Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, we know for certain that God lifts Cain’s curses for those who repent and turn their lives back toward Him. Witness the redemption of Dr. Bernard Nathanson, once the abortionist of his own child who became one of the most stalwart defenders of the unborn and a true follower of Christ. Let none of us, therefore, heap condemnation upon the heads of those under Cain's curses, but urge all to seek and find forgiveness, healing and communion with all our Lord's brothers and sisters.

Newsboys "I am Free" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR7bBEBIC9g

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CENTRAL ILLINOIS RIGHT TO LIFE, INC.

BLOG HOME PAGE LINK Illinoislife.blogspot.com