(7/20/2006)

Constitutional Lawyer: Churches CAN Speak to Moral Issues in the Public Square

Alliance Defense Fund attorney says some are "trying to silence the church"

BY BOB ELLIS

DAKOTA VOICE

RAPID CITY - With plenty of misinformation and misunderstanding going around this election season, the South Dakota Family Policy Council believed it was important for churches and their pastors to know just what they were permitted to do and what they were not permitted to do within the parameters that govern their tax exempt status. To help with this, they invited Gary McCaleb, the Senior Vice President of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) to speak to South Dakota pastors.

The Alliance Defense fund was founded in 1994 by Dr. James Dobson, D. James Kennedy, Larry Burkett, Bill Bright, and others for the legal defense and advocacy of religious freedom. The ADF has led or assisted several U.S. Supreme Court victories for religious liberty.

This week, McCaleb and Robert Regier, executive director of the South Dakota Family Policy Council, have given presentations in Sioux Falls, Yankton, Brookings, Aberdeen, Watertown, Mitchell, and finished up in Rapid City on July 20. The presentation was given as part of the SDFPC “Witherspoon Pastor’s Network,” which honors Reverend John Witherspoon, the man who influenced many of the founders of the United States and the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence.

This year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued statements in February and again in early June regarding the political activities of churches and other nonprofit organizations. A large number of media outlets in South Dakota and across the United States have taken this opportunity to highlight restrictions on what churches can do politically because of their tax exempt status, and many in the Christian community believe the liberal media wants to intimidate churches into silence.

Gary McCaleb intends to reassure churches and pastors that they can and must speak to the relevant moral issues in our society, and that they can do so without any fear of jeopardizing their status with the IRS.

Today in Rapid City, McCaleb told a filled room of 60 Black Hills area pastors and church leaders, “What they are saying is that you can lose your tax exemption as a church if you speak out on the abortion ban, or the gambling issue if it comes up, or in favor of marriage. I’ve come up from Arizona...to tell you very directly that this is absolutely inaccurate, wrong, false information. If you speak out even directly from your pulpit and tell your people to vote in favor of the marriage amendment, or vote in favor of the abortion ban, that is not going to put your tax exemption at risk.”

McCaleb also said churches may use an “insubstantial portion of your ministry resources to directly lobby on legislative matters like these [marriage and abortion] laws.” He said this is at least 5% of the total ministry value (not just the church budget, but the value of volunteer labor, and all the things that go into the ministry) on direct lobbying; this can involve buying yard signs, advertising, holding public rallies and such to encourage others to support legislation. McCaleb said some courts have said it is permissible to go up to 15-20%, but he advised 5% as a completely safe figure. Churches can also financially support the work of groups like the South Dakota Family Policy Council, VoteYesForLife.com and others, as long as reporting procedures are followed.

McCaleb said, “If anybody tells you differently, find out what they are quoting and give me a call. I guarantee you they are wrong. They are spreading misinformation. They are trying to silence the church.”

If a church is acting within what is allowed by law, but a complaint is filed against them for violating the tax code, McCaleb said the Alliance Defense Fund would help defend them at no cost. He said they exist to support Christians doing their work in defense of the Gospel.

McCaleb said efforts have been made before to silence the church. He said a liberal group in California in the 1990s sent out 80,000 letters to churches which said nonprofits could lose their tax exempt status if they spoke out on a marriage protection bill before the California legislature.

Speaking to the marriage issue, McCaleb said if nothing else, this is an opportunity to share the Christian faith because marriage is at the core of what Christianity is about, drawing from the Bible which compares the church to the “bride of Christ” and that marriage between a man and woman is a “reflection” of that relationship.

He also pointed out that Christians value human life as being created in the image of God, and that opposing abortion is standing between innocent life and the taking of that life.

McCaleb cautioned against endorsing candidates, however. He said for nonprofits, supporting a candidate for office is viewed differently than supporting legislation which reflects Christian values. McCaleb counseled pastors not to play games with this prohibition, but to be clear in not endorsing candidates in their official capacity.

Comments about political parties are treated similarly to the way candidates are treated, so churches should approach discussing political parties in the same way.

He did say these restrictions in no way prohibited clergy from telling parishioners their opinion when approached privately, nor did it prevent them from writing letters to newspapers or anything else done as an individual. McCaleb said pastors could also put up yard signs in front of a parsonage, as long as the parsonage was separate from the church building and would not be confused with the facility itself.

He pointed out that these restrictions have nothing to do with the U.S. Constitution or religion, but stem from tax law championed by Lyndon B. Johnson when he was in the U.S. Senate in 1954. Johnson had been criticized by a nonprofit group during his campaign, so Johnson fought for and won passage of a law restricting nonprofit organizations from speaking for or against candidates. McCaleb made it clear that this applies not just to churches, but to other nonprofit groups as well, both conservative and liberal.

Candidate forums are permitted, McCaleb said, as long as churches allow equal opportunity for all candidates to be represented. Candidates can also speak at churches, provided their opposition is allowed an opportunity to speak; it can be one right after the other, or on sequential Sundays. Government officials can also address governmental and legislative matters before churches for the purpose of informing church members about law and process, as long as they don’t endorse themselves or another candidate, or encourage church members not to vote for someone else.

Even if churches do make a mistake and think they might have overstepped what is permitted under the tax code, McCaleb said they should call ADF for advice, and even if that turns out to be the case, often the IRS simply issues a letter warning them not to do it again.

The voter guides produced by the South Dakota Family Policy Council are also completely fine to distribute to church members, McCaleb said. The guides give the positions of candidates based on their voting records and on their answers to questionnaires, but do not endorse one candidate over another in any way. A voter guide was produced for the June primary election, and another is being prepared for the general election in November.

Regier said that while many of the issues pastors need to address also fall within the realm of the political, it is much more than that. Regier said ballot issues such as marriage and abortion can provide opportunities to share their faith with people who might not otherwise go to a church or enter into a religious discussion. He also said even people within the churches may not understand the right and wrong of these issues.

Regier took issue with the notion that the pulpit was not the place to address moral issues that some might consider “political.” He told the crowd that as he grew up in church, he never heard “real life” issues like sex outside of marriage addressed, especially from the pulpit. He said that while he bears the responsibility for mistakes he has made, he might not have had sex before marriage if it had been made clear to him by a moral authority that it was wrong. Regier was emotional as he said this in turn might have also prevented the decision he once made as a young man to take his girlfriend to an abortion clinic to have an abortion.

“This is so much more than about winning the vote,” Regier said. “It’s about getting guys like me who are impressionable at 18, 19, 20, who are basically lost. If we’re not going to hear it from you pastors, we’re not going to hear it at all.”

Regier also encouraged men to stand up and fight for life along with the women who are already traveling around the state telling their stories in support of the abortion ban.

McCaleb’s bottom line on tax exemption and religious freedom: “You have absolute liberty subject only to that substantiality test of the 5-10% range to support legislation and to speak forcefully and directly and lobby in support of the marriage amendment or the abortion ban.”

The Alliance Defense Fund is currently defending Christians in over 100 cases, and has won numerous cases defending religious freedom, including some argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Alliance Defense Fund can be reached at www.telladf.org or 480-388-8046. Voter guides for all state and South Dakota federal candidates can be obtained free of charge by contacting the South Dakota Family Policy Council at www.sdfamily.org or calling 605-335-8100; SDFPC maintains offices in Sioux Falls and Rapid City.