Some time ago, I asked the question, “Do 84% of Pastors believe the Pulpit Initiative is a bad idea?”  The question was in response to a survey conducted of 1,000 protestant pastors by Lifeway Research that asked the pastors whether they agreed with the statement, ”I believe pastors should endorse candidates for public office from the pulpit.”  The survey reported that 84% of the surveyed pastors disagreed that a pastor should endorse political candidates from the pulpit.  Some bloggers picked up the results and trumpeted them, arguing that they proved that the Pulpit Initiative was wrong and that ADF should just give up and agree that it was on the wrong side of public opinion.

I responded to the research (and the critics of the Pulpit Initiative) by stating that Lifeway had asked the wrong question.  The Pulpit Initiative was never intended to answer the question whether a pastor should or should not endorse political candidates from the pulpit.  Rather, it was intended to answer the question of who should make that decision for churches.  Should the government make that decision for churches or should churches make that decision for themselves depending on their own church doctrine and beliefs?

I am happy to report that Lifeway Research conducted another poll of 1,000 pastors and asked the right question.  They asked the pastors whether they agreed with the statement that “The government should regulate sermons by revoking a church’s tax exemption if its pastor approves of or criticizes candidates based on the church’s moral beliefs or theology.”  86% of pastors disagreed with the statement.  That is almost 9 out of 10 pastors who disagreed with the idea that government should be allowed to regulate the content of a pastor’s sermon.  That’s good news.

In the end, the constitutional liberties of pastors and churches are not subject to polls and popular debate.  But the poll results are interesting and demonstrate that pastors “get it.”  They understand that it is not the job of the government to review the content of a pastor’s sermon to determine whether it violates some restriction and is worthy of punishment.  The very idea that some government official can determine whether to mete out punishment to a church based solely on what a pastor says from the pulpit is repugnant and offensive to these pastors.

And, in the end, that is the only question Pulpit Freedom Sunday is intended to answer.  The goal of Pulpit Freedom Sunday is intended to stop the government from acting as the “orthodoxy police.”  As the Supreme Court stated way back in 1943, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in … religion.”

Pastor, if you have not already signed up to participate in Pulpit Freedom Sunday, please sign up today.  Become part of the solution and stand with hundreds of other pastors across the country who are reclaiming their ability to speak freely from the pulpit without fearing government censorship or control.

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The realm of the Church is being invaded by the realm of the political today.  This might seem like a strange statement, but consider this example:  Thirty years ago, a pastor could preach a sermon from Scripture that marriage was between one man and one woman and no one would have been concerned or would have even thought to complain to the IRS that the Church was violating the Johnson Amendment in the tax code by speaking politically.  Yet today, if a pastor were to stand in the pulpit and preach a sermon that says marriage is between one man and one woman, that sermon would be instantly deemed “political,” and somehow church-goers, and the culture at large, would assume that the Church was wrong and should stay out of “politics.”

Some of this is, of course, a function of the culture war over fundamental issues such as the definition of marriage, the sanctity of human life, and religious freedom.  As these issues are fought in the public square, they frequently become politicized by a culture that increasingly turns to government to demand answers to these most fundamental of questions.  Yet a pervasively darker consequence of these fundamental cultural conflicts is that the Church is frequently told that when culture deems an issue “political,” it somehow becomes off-limits for the Church to address without someone screaming that the Church has violated the Johnson Amendment and is endangering its tax-exempt status.

Consider these examples:  In Maine, after the governor signed a same-sex “marriage” bill into law, the Catholic Church began to gather signatures for a voter referendum on the law.  A homosexual advocacy group  complained to the IRS that the Church was violating the tax code by gathering signatures even though the Church is allowed to conduct limited lobbying like this under the Internal Revenue Code.  A spokesperson for the group stated, “By their individuals going on television, stating what they were doing, they’re engaging in lobbying activities which is prohibited by the IRS for tax exempt purposes.”

Or consider a starker example: Pastor Gus Booth from Warroad Community Church in Minnesota preached a sermon in 2008 to his congregation where he spoke about what Scripture says regarding abortion and same-sex “marriage.”  He then compared the candidates running for office in light of their positions on those issues and made a specific recommendation as to who the congregation should vote for and against based solely on how the candidates aligned themselves with Scripture’s teaching.  Americans United for Separation of Church and State immediately complained to the IRS that pastor Booth’s sermon violated the Johnson Amendment.  The IRS launched an investigation of the Church for what pastor Booth said during his sermon.  Stop for just a moment – did you read what I just wrote?  The IRS investigated a pastor for something he said during a sermon!

These examples, and many others that I don’t have space to list, demonstrate the growing conflict between the biblical and the political.  As  issues addressed in the Bible are deemed “political” by today’s culture, churches will be pressured to remain silent on these topics or risk facing the ire of radical groups, or an investigation by the IRS.  Think back to the example at the beginning of this article.  Should a pastor preach a sermon where he proclaims the Biblical truth that marriage is between one man and one woman only or should he remain silent because that issue has been deemed political?

It seems to me that today’s pastors have a choice to make?  To preach faithfully the counsel of God’s Word on all issues addressed by Scripture, or to self-censor and remain silent simply because some issues have been deemed “political” and therefore off limits as a sermon topic.  Dr. David Jeremiah put the issue succinctly when he recently stated, “There are so many issues that are so part of the foundation of Christianity, and not to stand for those things is to be unfaithful.  If we’re only faithful for the things that aren’t being tested, and not faithful for the things that are being tested, then we are not faithful….We can no longer be silent.  If we don’t speak up, nobody is going to speak up.”  Dr. Jeremiah went on to highlight just how deeply theological this issue is when he stated, “Your mandate can never come from the culture.  It must come from the Word of God.”

Or consider how Bishop Harry Jackson put it:

In the next decade or so what America will be for the next hundred years, I believe will be decided.  Would you want to be someone who stood by and did nothing and had no voice in changing America for good, that lives through years of  regret that you did nothing when you could have spoken out?  Or will you be someone, no matter how small your congregation is or how large your congregation is, who will take up the challenge to follow Christ and endure momentary discomfort with trying to figure out how to articulate the message?  That is a little price to pay for the benefit that we could bring to the entire culture.”

The choice before America’s pastors is clear.  The only question is, pastor, what choice will you make?

The stark choice confronting America’s pastors is why ADF created the Pulpit Initiative.  For too long pastors have lived in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation as the Johnson Amendment has been used as a weapon of censorship against the Church.  It is beyond time to remove this restriction and to restore a pastor’s right to preach freely without fear of any government censorship, intimidation, or reprisal.  The Pulpit Initiative is a plan to launch a litigation challenge against the Johnson Amendment to have it declared unconstitutional as it applies to a pastor’s sermon.  Because the unassailable fact is that no government official, high or petty, has any right to censor a pastor’s sermon, or threaten a pastor with any kind of punishment for something that is said from the pulpit during a sermon.

Pastor, visit our website to learn more about the Pulpit Initiative, and sign up to participate in Pulpit Freedom Sunday this year on October 2.  Make your choice and stand with hundreds of other pastors across the country who are being faithful by speaking out on the things that are being tested.

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Many of you are aware that in 2008, ADF launched the Pulpit Initiative.  This initiative is intended to restore a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit without fearing any government censorship or control.  Pastors have the right to proclaim biblical truth from their pulpits without having to worry about the government looking over their shoulder and threatening their churches with revocation of tax exempt status if they say something the IRS doesn’t like.

2008 was the inaugural year for the Pulpit Initiative.  Thirty-three churches from 22 different states participated.  The pastors preached sermons that addressed the candidates running for office in light of Scripture, made specific recommendations as to whether a particular candidate was worthy of a Christian’s vote, and then sent recordings of their sermons to the IRS for review.

In 2009, an off-election year, 84 churches participated in the Pulpit Initiative.  Those pastors in states facing elections (mostly Virginia and New Jersey) addressed the candidates for office in the same way the pastors had done the year before.  The other pastors who participated preached sermons about current government officials in an effort to remind their congregants that the Bible has a lot to say about the selection of our national leaders and the morality espoused by those who would lead our country.

This past year, almost 100 pastors participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  These pastors addressed the candidates running for office in light of biblical truth, made specific recommendations concerning how a Christian should vote regarding the specific candidates, and then publicized their participation in Pulpit Freedom Sunday as the pastors in 2008 had done.

So we are three years into the Pulpit Initiative.  How has the IRS responded to the efforts of these pastors to restore their right to speak freely from their pulpits without IRS oversight?

Mostly, the IRS has remained silent.  In 2008, one pastor was audited by the IRS but the IRS dropped that audit soon after it began.  No other church has been audited by the IRS as a result of the church’s participation in Pulpit Freedom Sunday.

The IRS seems to have simply ignored Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  So what is going through the IRS’ collective mind on this issue?  Well, answering that question requires a level of prognostication and insight reserved for the Divine. But I think we can take some educated guesses as to what is going on.

First, the IRS may not be sure how to handle these pastors.  There are a couple of pieces of evidence that may suggest that the IRS is simply unorganized in its efforts to respond to Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  First, several pastors this year who sent their sermons to the IRS received basic form letters thanking them for their “referral” to the IRS of their situation.  The letters are normally the kind of letters the IRS sends out to anyone who refers a possible violation of the regulations. Here is what the letter said:

Dear Reverend___:

I am responding to your letter transmitting your sermon of September 26, 2010.

We maintain an ongoing examination program to ensure that tax exempt organizations continue to meet the requirements for tax-exempt status.  Whenever we receive information about an organization that raises questions about its continued exempt status or compliance with the tax laws, we forward the information to our EO Examinations office in Dallas to determine if it warrants an examination or other action.

The law, however, prohibits us from disclosing the existence of an examination, the results of any examination, or any conclusions from a completed examination (sec. 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code).  Therefore, I cannot comment what action, if any, we may take regarding the information you provided.

If you have additional information about these exempt organizations that you want to submit for our consideration, you should send it to (IRS address in Dallas given:

I hope this information is helpful.

Sincerely,

David Fish, Manager, Exempt Organization Guidance

This is basically a “brush-off” letter saying that the IRS is sending the pastor’s sermon to its Dallas office where they may or may not decide to take any action regarding the sermon.

Second, one pastor received a letter from the IRS’ manager of “Exempt Organizations Guidance” that basically restated the law.  The letter stated:

I am responding to your letter dated October 6, 2010, about political activities.  Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code) all section 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches and religious organizations, are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.  Violation of this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.

The political campaign activity prohibition is not intended to restrict free expression on political matters by leaders of churchs or religious organizations speaking for themselves, as individuals.  Nor are leaders prohibited from speaking about important issues of public policy.  However for their organizations to remain tax exempt under section 501(c)(3), religious leaders cannot make partisan comments in official organization publications or at official church functions.  To avoid potential attribution of their comments outside of church functions and publications, religious leaders who speak or write in their individual capacity are encouraged to clearly indicate that their comments are personal and not intended to represent the views of the organization.

I have enclosed a copy of our Publication, tax guide for Churches and Religious Organizations.

I hope this information is helpful.  If you have any questions, please call….

This letter raises a number of interesting points, but overall I think it may demonstrate a disorganized IRS response to Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  Why did only one pastor get this letter out of the almost 100 who participated?  Why did the letter just restate the IRS regulations on political intervention of churches?  The pastor had sent the IRS a sermon that specifically addressed candidates for office in a Sunday sermon where the pastor was speaking, not in his individual capacity, but as the pastor of the church.  The letter this pastor received doesn’t seem to address the situation, and is just a basic informational letter.

So maybe the IRS’ response is just disorganized.  I’m sure that the IRS is not unique among large federal bureaucracies.

Still, maybe the IRS is still waiting for an opportune moment to respond to Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  As attorneys who practice in the field of federal tax exemption know, the IRS has not been auditing any churches for any reason for the last year or so since their regulations regarding the procedure they use to audit churches were found to violate the law.  The IRS has proposed new procedures to fix this problem.  I testified before the IRS in January, 2010, concerning those procedures and how they should be structured to protect the rights of pastors and churches.  But the regulations have never been finalized and, because of that, the IRS has not been auditing any churches.  The IRS has said publicly that it intends to finalize the church audit procedures in 2011, but no action has been taken on that front as of today.

Finally, maybe the IRS knows it cannot win this fight and so prefers not to fight at all.  There does seem to be a reluctance on the part of the IRS to allow a court challenge to the Johnson Amendment.  Some have privately suggested that the IRS knows it cannot win and so wants to avoid the fight altogether.

All in all, it is difficult to understand the IRS’ lack of response to Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  So where does that leave Pulpit Freedom Sunday?  Well, one thing is certain.  When ADF started the Pulpit Initiative, we committed to remain in it for the long haul and to continue Pulpit Freedom Sunday until it became clear, one way or another, that the IRS was not going to censor anything a pastor says from the pulpit.  If the IRS continues its lack of response, we will just continue to grow Pulpit Freedom Sunday year after year.  If the IRS finally decides to respond, then we will litigate to protect the rights of pastors to speak uncensored and free.

Whether the IRS responds, doesn’t respond, or chooses to wait to respond, we’re not going away.  Protecting the freedom of the pulpit is too important to stop this effort after a few short years.  The Johnson Amendment has been around for 56 years now.  It may take a few more years to see it rescinded, but we’re committed to staying the course until we do.

Pulpit Freedom Sunday will happen again this year on October 2, 2011.  If you know of a pastor interested in participating, they can find more information about the Pulpit Initiative on our website.  And stay tuned for information on how to join with ADF and the courageous pastors who have participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday in the past.

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Ask any committed Christian these days and they will tell you that they sense something is wrong in America. As a country, we seem to be losing our way and foundering on the rocks of moral relativism. The attack on the family, the church, and Christianity has intensified as real as a hurricane over warm tropical waters. I don’t need to bore (or scare) you with statistics and anecdotes or even try to convince you. Nor do I want to sound overly alarmist. But just a short look at the ADF website reveals that religious freedom, marriage, the family, and the sanctity of human life, just to name a few, are under relentless attack. The shared sense that our country is in trouble is palpable. America’s ship is caught in a hurricane of epic proportions and is in danger of running aground.

When a ship finds itself near to shore in the midst of a storm, the captain looks for the lighthouse to guide it safely to the harbor. Where is America’s lighthouse?

Throughout our history as a country, the pastors of America have served as the beacon and guide through troubled waters. From the time of independence when the clergy rallied the people’s heart to liberty, through the troubled times of the civil war, the fight for women’s equality, the civil rights struggle, and countless other battles, pastors were a voice of moral clarity in America.

The voice of the pastors in America has been silent for too long. Since the tax code was amended in 1954 to prohibit clergy from speaking freely from their pulpits, the American pulpit has been anemic. The strong voices proclaiming biblical values have atrophied.

But an opportunity exists to turn this situation around, to restore the right of pastors to speak freely on any and all issues addressed by Scripture without fear of censorship, punishment or intimidation by the government. Pulpit Freedom Sunday is October 2, 2011. This is a day for pastors to stand together as a united voice and to regain their liberties that were unjustly taken by the Johnson Amendment in 1954.

If you don’t know what the Johnson Amendment is, click here and become informed. And then click here to learn more about Pulpit Freedom Sunday and how you as a pastor can participate. Pastor, stand united with ADF and hundreds of other pastors across the country to speak boldly and shine brightly as the moral lighthouse America so desperately needs in this hour.

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Nearly 100 pastors from almost 30 different states participated in ADF’s third annual Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  Click here for a link to the list of participating churches.  These pastors spoke freely from their pulpits and applied Scripture’s teachings directly and specifically to the issue of candidates and elections. The goal of Pulpit Freedom Sunday is to protect a pastor’s right to speak freely from his pulpit without fearing government censorship or control and  to challenge the constitutionality of the Johnson Amendment.

By all accounts, Pulpit Freedom Sunday was a great success.  Pastors participating reported that their messages were well-received by the congregations.  One pastor reported that his message drew a standing ovation from the congregation that was the largest standing ovation he had received in over 40 years of ministry.  All of this is, of course, anecdotal, but I believe it is also powerful evidence that when pastors are free to speak Scriptural truth from their pulpits without fear, then the Church and society at large benefits.

I will have more to say about Pulpit Freedom Sunday in future blog posts (and especially will have more to say about some of the criticisms), but for now wanted to highlight that Pulpit Freedom Sunday was a success and that we are excited about the days to come as we stand together with pastors across the country to protect the right of a pastor to speak freely from the pulpit.

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