Arkansas Bishop Seeks To Challenge Federal Tax Law Prohibiting Clergy From Endorsing Candidates

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Article Date: 20 Oct 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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The AP/Google.com on Wednesday profiled the efforts of Little Rock, Ark., Bishop Robert Smith, head of Word of Outreach Christian Center, to fight an Internal Revenue Service tax law that prohibits not-for-profit, tax-exempt religious entities from endorsing political candidates from the pulpit. Smith, who supports Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), recently gave a sermon on abortion and gay marriage that ended, "I will be voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin." Smith plans to send a recording of the sermon to the IRS with the hope of triggering an investigation, the AP/Google.com reports.

According to Smith, religious leaders throughout the U.S. have been endorsing political candidates for years. Experts say sermons in which pastors endorse candidates from the pulpit are a clear violation of federal tax law because the pastors are speaking in their official capacity as clergy. Congress amended the tax code in 1954 to state that certain not-for-profit groups, including churches and secular charities, can lose their tax-exempt status for being involved in political campaigns. After numerous complaints about endorsements by religious leaders in the 2004 election, the IRS scaled up its oversight of such activities, including issuing written advisories against 42 churches for improper political activity that year.

The AP/Google.com reports that Smith, who has a predominantly black congregation, is not "just testing the law with his sermon backing McCain. He's testing his ... congregation and neighborhood by backing McCain" over opponent Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Smith said he tells his congregation that the election, in his opinion, is about principles, not race. During the Oct. 5 sermon in which he endorsed McCain, Smith said, "In my investigation of the candidates, neither one of them meets the biblical standard 100%," adding, "But only one of them has the basic understanding of when life begins. Only that one can be trusted to ensure that life does not end prematurely." Smith was one of 33 pastors who had planned in September to deliver sermons about political candidates as part of an effort organized by the Alliance Defense Fund, although Smith delivered his sermon in October because of a missed flight.

Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for ADF, said the sermons were organized with the intent of challenging federal law and IRS rules on political speech by pastors. "For the last 54 years, the tax restrictions have been used to silence and intimidate churches on those issues," Stanley said.

Nancy Mathis, an IRS spokesperson, would not comment on Smith's sermon but said the agency will monitor any allegations of political activity by churches. "We are aware of recent press reports and will monitor the situation and take action as appropriate," Mathis said. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said that the organization already has filed seven complaints against churches that participated in last month's demonstration and that Smith's church may be added to that list (DeMillo, AP/Google.com, 10/15).

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