Sixty days have now come and gone since Pulpit Freedom Sunday 2011.  That day is when 539 pastors from across the United States stood in their pulpits and proclaimed biblical truth about candidates and elections.  The participating pastors recorded their sermons and sent them to the IRS in the hopes of generating a legal challenge to overturn the Johnson Amendment.

As of the time I write this blog, the IRS has not responded in any way to any of the pastors who participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  In fact, pastors have been participating in Pulpit Freedom Sunday since 2008 but no pastor has ever been punished or censored by the IRS for a Pulpit Freedom Sunday sermon.

There is no way we can know exactly what is happening at the IRS and why it has not responded.  In a previous blog, I listed some possible reasons why the IRS has not responded.  But the IRS’ lack of response is really not the important issue.  Instead, what is important is that Pulpit Freedom Sunday is growing into a nationwide movement of pastors who are unafraid to speak the truth from their pulpits no matter the consequences.  And that is what America needs right now.

For too long, pastors have shied away from things that are deemed by society as “political.”  But as I pointed out previously, society continues to label biblical issues “political” in an attempt to keep pastors and churches from talking about them.

It is encouraging to see pastors awakening to the need for bold, biblical preaching from the pulpit on the vital issue confronting our country.  And I hope that more pastors will see this need and join Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2012.  If you are a pastor, you can sign up now at www.pulpitfreedom.org.  Pulpit Freedom Sunday will be October 6-7, 2012.

Oh, and if the IRS ever does decide to investigate or punish a pastor for something said from the pulpit, ADF will be there to represent the pastor free of charge and we will seek to have the Johnson Amendment declared unconstitutional.  Whether we have to wait 60 days, 60 months, or even longer to determine whether the IRS will respond, we will not quit until every pastor has the right to speak freely from the pulpit without fearing any governmental censorship or punishment.

For many years, U.S. Senate Finance Committee member Charles Grassley (R-IA), has been looking into the financial practices of large media-based Christian ministries. Although he has not yet proposed any new laws that would govern how ministries report and manage their finances, in January he asked the ECFA
(Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability) to create a commission that will make recommendations about how ministries can be more fiscally accountable.  The ECFA has indicated that it will look into issues such as whether churches should be required to file detailed information returns (990s), the housing allowance, and tax rules governing “love offerings.”  It has also indicated that it hopes to address these issues through self-regulation rather than legislation.

You can learn more about the issues the commission will address here. Also, ADF’s own Erik Stanley has been asked to serve on an advisory panel for the commission in view of his legal expertise in the area of churches and politics. We will continue to keep you updated on the work on the work of the commission.  In the mean time, the best way for churches to minimize risk of running afoul of current or future regulations is to become a member of a financial accountability organization such as ECFA.

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By Alan Sears

On Sunday, October 2, hundreds of pastors all over the country did something an astonishingly large number of their fellow Americans had forgotten they had the God-given right to do: namely, address political issues and candidates during a worship service.

Across the nearly 60 years since then U.S. Senator Lyndon Johnson pushed through an amendment to the IRS code threatening any church or pastor who gets involved in politics with IRS reprisals – specifically, the loss of the church’s tax-exempt status – conventional wisdom has congealed around the idea that pastors must stay out of politics. As extraordinary as that assertion is to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of our nation’s history, it’s a theme that’s been hammered home unrelentingly for decades by groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Click to read the remainder of this article on Townhall.com

Pastor Jim Garlow from Skyline Wesleyan Church who is also Chairman of Renewing American Leadership was on Glenn Beck TV last week.  See the video below for their inspiring discussion on Pulpit Freedom Sunday.

There is still time to sign up for Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  Just go to www.pulpitfreedom.org and sign up to be one of hundreds of pastors who are standing courageously to regain their right to speak freely from their pulpits without fearing any government censorship or control.  Pulpit Freedom Sunday is October 2 so sign up today at www.pulpitfreedom.org.

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Who decides what can be said from the pulpits of America’s churches? For more than 50 years now, the IRS has had a say in what a pastor can preach.

The free exercise of religion depends on a free pulpit.

Join a movement of courageous pastors by participating in Pulpit Freedom Sunday and reclaiming a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit.
http://www.PulpitFreedom.org

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