Church Administrative Professionals: Churches and Politics

We recently asked church leaders about the following situation:

A church member, who you know to be politically active, approaches you with a voter guide and asks that it be handed out at your church prior to the November general election.

What’s your policy on voter guides?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
First Amendment, United States Constitution

While the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution clearly allows the free exercise of religion and prohibits restrictions on speech and the press, it has become established in tax law that 501(c)(3) organizations such as churches cannot take sides in partisan politics, nor can they lend support to a candidate involved in an election. The law does allow churches to take positions on public policy issues. They can even comment on issues that divide candidates running for office, so long as issue advocacy does not become candidate advocacy.

Confused? Perhaps looking at some Q&A’s will help.

Question: Under what conditions can someone who is a candidate for public office, or is being courted to run for public office, speak at your church without the church being considered to have engaged in campaign intervention?

Answer:

Yes, if the candidate has been chosen to speak solely for reasons other than as a candidate for public office and speaks only in a non-candidate capacity on a topic unrelated to the campaign, does not ask the audience for their vote or financial support, and is not endorsed by the church
(Note: Because candidates may not be familiar with the legal limitations affecting churches’ participation in campaigns, it probably would be a good idea if a church leader instructs the candidate beforehand that any remarks related to the campaign are unacceptable and could jeopardize the church’s tax exemption.) and;
If your church has extended an equal opportunity to all candidates for an elective office to speak at a voter educational forum
(Note: The forum does not have to be limited to one session, scheduling candidate appearances on successive days or weeks is permitted. Also, if a candidate turns down an invitation or fails to appear that does not necessarily jeopardize the church.) and;
If your church communicates that a candidate’s appearance does not constitute an endorsement of the candidate nor opposition to the candidate’s opponents and;
No political fund raising takes place.

Question: Can your church contribute towards a candidate’s campaign?

Answer: No

Church assets cannot be used to contribute to candidate campaigns and;
A Church Cannot invite a candidate to use the its duplication equipment, postage meter or other assets to produce or distribute campaign materials and;
Churches cannot allow campaign posters to be displayed on church property unless a church is being used as a polling place and posters are displayed according to local election laws.

Question: Can the church get in trouble with the IRS if someone shows up and puts flyers promoting or opposing a particular candidate on members’ cars in the parking lot or puts campaign flyers in the church’s lobby?

Answer: Yes

A church is responsible for what takes place on its property and;
Churches may want to have volunteers patrol the parking lot the Sunday immediately preceding a poling date and;
Even if permission was not given to display campaign flyers, not removing them immediately can be considered granting tacit approval.

Question: Can the church conduct voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives?

Answer: Yes, with conditions:

Must be done in a non-partisan manner.
May have banners and signs mentioning your church’s name, the date of the next election and the notice of the opportunity to register or vote.
Cannot display or mention the name of any candidate running in the election or the name of a political party other than for assisting registrants who wish to select a party affiliation.

The IRS has said, Preparation or distribution of voter guides, because of their nature, present a particular risk for non compliance.

Question: Can the church have a ministry that helps people get to the polls?

Answer: Yes, with conditions:

A church cannot limit its efforts to neighborhoods known to support a particular candidate or a particular issue espoused by a particular candidate and;
A church cannot limit its efforts to a category of voter based on the likelihood of how they will cast their vote.

Question: If an elected official who is up for re-election attends a church meeting, can his presence be acknowledged by a church leader?

Answer: Yes, as long as he is introduced only by office and name. The fact that he is up for re-election, or that a position he has taken on an issue that the church agrees with or that the church either supports or opposes his re-election cannot be mentioned.

Question: On occasion the church rents space to outside groups to meet using the church’s facilities. Can the church rent space to a political candidate?

Answer: Yes, with conditions:

The church’s usual and customary fair market rent needs to be charged.
(Note: this can raise an unrelated business income tax issue for the church.) and;
The space needs to be available to candidates in the same election on an equal basis and;
The renting of the space must be an ongoing activity of the church.

Question: Can the church rent its mailing list to a candidate?

Answer: Yes, with the same conditions as the previous answer.

Question: Can a church’s website include links to other websites that have candidate information on them?

Answer: No

Church leaders should police links on their church’s website to verify that none lead to pages or websites that include information either for or against any candidates involved in an election campaign.

Question: Can a church allow voter guides to be displayed or distributed on its property or on its website?

Answer: Yes, with conditions

Questions posed by the voter guide about various issues need to be clear and unbiased in structure and content and;
The questions in the voter guide are identical to those posed to the candidates and;
The candidates must have had a reasonable amount of time to respond to the questions in the voter guide and;
All candidates for a particular office are included in the voter guide and;
The number of questions and subjects covered are sufficient to encompass most major issues of interest to the entire electorate and;
The voter guide does not include a recommendation or endorsement of any one candidate and;
The organization distributing the voter guide has evaluated the guide and has independently reached the conclusion that the previous conditions have been met.
Note: Churches should take special care regarding voter guides. It is our understanding that in order to pass IRS muster, a voter guide presented by a church should pose a minimum of eight different questions that cover a broad spectrum of issues. Nevertheless, note that the he IRS has said, Preparation or distribution of voter guides, because of their nature, present a particular risk for non compliance.

The limits on churches and other 501(c)(3) organizations’ involvement in political campaigns that we’ve outlined can be especially hard for a church to strictly abide by if the candidate is a church member. It’s even more difficult for churches that have developed a close, one-big-family type of environment. But it’s important for church leaders to recognize what’s at stake. Whether the candidate a church supports is running for dog catcher or the president of the United States or anything in between, violating the prohibition on campaign intervention can result in the church being levied an excise tax or, in a worse case scenario, losing its tax exemption. Loss of tax exemption could harm a church far greater than a temporarily unhappy church member. We suggest that church leaders choose wisely.

Taking a Stand

As long as church pastors, employees and leaders speak for themselves, as individuals, they are free to express their opinion, or support or oppose a particular candidate.

Fortunately churches can take positions on public policy issues, even if they are issues that divide candidates in an election for public office. But they must be careful to avoid advocacy that functions as political campaign intervention.

Here are some guidelines for churches who wish to issue statements on public policy while staying out of trouble:

Statements do not identify one or more candidates for a given public office;
Statements do not express approval or disapproval for one or more candidates’ positions and/or actions;
Statements are not delivered close to the time when polling takes place;
Statements do not make reference to voting or an election;
The issue addressed in the communication has not been raised as an issue distinguishing candidates for a given office;
The communication is part of an ongoing series of communications by the organization on the same issue that are made independent of the timing of any election; and
The timing of the communication and identification of the candidate are related to a non-electoral event such as a scheduled vote on specific legislation by an officeholder who also happens to be a candidate for public office.

Generally churches are expected to address the societal morals of the day by whatever means are available to it. But sometimes moral issues turn up as issues in an election campaign. If a church regularly promotes its position on say, same-gender marriage, it shouldn’t have to feel compelled to stop or back off if a candidate running for office is using that same issue in their campaign. But if a church waits until an election approaches to bring up a particular issue that is also part of a candidate’s campaign, then it could be viewed as participating in partisan politics. It is our understanding that the timeframe that the IRS uses in determining whether or not this has happened is six weeks.

Individual’s First Amendment Rights

What we’ve already mentioned may frustrate a church pastor, employee or leader who is inclined to be politically active. But as long as they speak for themselves, as individuals, they are free to express their opinion, or support or oppose a particular candidate. If church leaders or employees choose to exercise their right of free expression we encourage that they make it clear that their comments are personal and not intended to represent the views of their church.

The separation of personal beliefs from those representing the church must be complete. For example, say a pastor writes in one of his regular church newsletter columns that he supports a particular candidate. It’s likely that he would expose his church to a charge of intervening in politics, even if he includes that his comments are personal and don’t reflect those of the church. The problem is that he has used an asset of the church to convey his message.

Perhaps a pastor is friends with other pastors who hold similar political views. Can they run an ad in the local newspaper supporting or opposing a particular candidate? If the ad is not paid for by any of the pastors’ churches or denominations and any titles or affiliations listed are noted as provided solely for identification purposes only, they are free to do so.

Let’s say that a pastor attends a community meeting and is interviewed by a local reporter. The reporter asks about who the pastor supports in the upcoming election. As long as the pastor does not say that he is speaking on behalf of his church, publication of the interview does not constitute campaign intervention by his church.

In advance of the 2014 mid-term elections, the IRS settled a lawsuit with the Freedom from Religion Foundation by agreeing to conduct enforcement in this area of 99 churches. While we do not know which churches they plan to observe, we believe that churches that choose to obey the law should have nothing to fear. To help churches, the Alliance Defending Freedom has prepared a document containing guidelines for preaching pastors. You can read their document by CLICKING HERE.

We hope that we’ve cleared up any questions you may have had about churches getting involved in political campaigns. If we overlooked a situation that your church is facing, please contact us and let us help you navigate the landscape of politics. In the meantime, please vote for the candidate of your choice. The country’s future depends on Christians participating at the polls.

Please Note: This information is provided with the understanding that Church Administrative Professionals is not rendering professional advice or service.

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Something to Consider…

What’s your policy on voter guides?

Taking a Stand

Individual’s First Amendment Rights

Have an idea for a situation that you would like us to include on this page OR Prefer to receive our periodic "In Pursuit of Excellence" analysis as an e-mail instead of as a postcard? Click Here

Have an idea for a situation that you would like us to include on this page OR
Prefer to receive our periodic "In Pursuit of Excellence" analysis as an e-mail instead of as a postcard? Click Here