CHURCH PASTOR
(1) Discuss the positions of political Yes Yes
candidates on issues
(2) Endorsement of political candidates No Yes
(3) Financial contributions to political candidates No Yes
(4) In-kind contributions to political candidates No Yes
(5) Independent expenditures in favor of or No Yes
against political candidates
(6) Contributions to political action No Yes
committees (PACs)
(7) Payment of expenses for attendance at a No Yes
caucus or state/national political party
convention
(8) Appearance of political candidate at a church Yes N/A
meeting or service
(9) Non-partisan voter registration activities Yes Yes
(10) Non-partisan voter identification activities Yes Yes
(11) Non-partisan get out the vote activities Yes Yes
(12) Non-partisan voter education Yes Yes
(13) Lobbying for legislation Yes* Yes
(if insubstantial amount)*
(14) Expenditures related to state referendums Yes Yes
(15) Distribute:
(a) Candidate surveys or voter guides Yes Yes
(b) Voting records of incumbents Yes Yes
(c) Candidate campaign literature No Yes
(16) Distribution by others of political statements Yes N/A
in church parking lots
(17) Rental of church lists to political candidates Yes N/A
(at fair market value)
(18) Church bulletin or newsletter:
(a) Political ads at regular rate Yes N/A
(b) Political ads at less than regular rate No N/A
(c) News stories Yes N/A
(d) Editorials No N/A
Explanation of Individual Items
Item 1. Discuss the positions of political candidates on issues.
Pastors and churches are free to discuss the positions of candidates on issues - - including criticizing or praising them for their positions. This is called issue advocacy.
Item 2. Endorsement of political candidates.
Endorsement of a political candidate includes any statement which uses explicit words to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, such as "elect," "support," "defeat," or "oppose." This is called express advocacy. Distributing campaign literature from a candidate is also one form of express advocacy. A church may not engage in express advocacy.
A pastor, however, in his individual capacity, may endorse a political candidate. The pastor may state his affiliation with his church, as long as it is indicated that this is for identification purposes only and that his endorsement is from him personally, not his church.
One controversial area is whether a pastor may personally endorse a political candidate from the pulpit. The IRS has taken the unequivocal position that this is not allowed. Some, however, believe that the First Amendment's provisions on free speech and free exercise of religion protect such statements. We believe that this is not a prudent step for a pastor and do not recommend it.
Churches and pastors may support or oppose the appointment of judicial, cabinet, or other nonelected officials. This is considered lobbying, not electioneering.
Item 6. Contributions to political action committees (PACs)
A political action committee is any organization of two or more people whose major purpose is to engage in active electioneering by contributing to candidates or by expressly advocating the election or defeat of candidates for political office. Churches may not organize PACs and contributions to PACs from church funds is forbidden.
Item 8. Appearance of a political candidate at a church meeting or service.
A political candidate may appear at a church service. The appearance of a candidate before a church service as a candidate, however, is limited as follows:
(1) All legally qualified candidates should be invited;
(2) The questions should be prepared and presented by an independent non-partisan panel;
(3) The topics discussed should cover a broad range of issues of interest to the public;
(4) Each candidate should have an equal opportunity to present his or her views on the issues discussed; and
(5) The moderator should not comment on the questions or otherwise make comments that imply approval or disapproval of the candidates.
Political candidates may be introduced at a church service or may preach or read scripture without any restrictions.
However, public officials, who are also candidates, may be invited to speak to a church as a public official, without complying with the above requirements, if no reference is made to the public official's candidacy, if the public official speaks only in her capacity as a public official, and if there is no campaign activity in connection with the public official's appearance.
In addition, a church may allow political candidates to use church facilities for meetings or campaign appearances on the same basis that other civic groups are allowed to do so. If other civic groups are required to pay some rent for using the church facilities, the political candidate should be charged the same amount.
Items 9, 10, and 11. Non-partisan voter registration, voter identification, and get out the vote activities.
A church may participate in non-partisan voter registration, voter identification, and get out the vote activities. To be non-partisan, these activities may not be directed at the supporters of any particular candidate or political party. A church may, however, direct these activities at certain groups using non-partisan criteria, such as church
membership, geographic location, or position on certain issues. Furthermore, such activities will not be viewed as non-partisan if they are accompanied by literature praising or criticizing particular candidates or political parties for their positions on issues.
Item 12. Non-partisan voter education.
A church may participate in non-partisan voter education. Here, voter education involves discussion of the electoral process, such as how to run for public office or delegate, how to register, and where to vote. All these activities are permissible as long as they are not directed at supporters of one particular candidate or political party.
Item 13. Lobbying for legislation.
Churches may spend an insubstantial amount of their funds yearly on lobbying. An insubstantial amount is generally considered 5 to 20 percent of a church's funds. Lobbying is of two types: (1) direct lobbying, which involves direct communications with governmental officials regarding legislative or executive action, and (2) grassroots lobbying, where the church communicates with its members or the general public urging them to contact governmental officials in support of or in opposition to legislative or executive action. As a result, a church may discuss legislative issues, support or oppose legislation, encourage its members or the general public to support or oppose legislation, and support other organizations with their lobbying efforts. Furthermore, churches may lobby candidates on their positions on issues and distribute educational material to candidates or at political events, as long as this is being done to get out the organization's message and not to assist any candidate.
Item 14. Expenditures related to state referendums.
Churches may make expenditures in connection with state referendums, including making a financial or in-kind contribution to a referendum effort. Such expenditures are considered direct lobbying. In addition, state election laws should be consulted for any requirements imposed on state referendum activities.
Item 15 (a). Candidate surveys (sometimes called voter guides)
A church may publish the result of surveys of candidates on public issues. They should not include an endorsement of a candidate or expressly advocate the election or defeat of any candidate. Furthermore, they should not include advocacy of voting for candidates who support particular issues, i.e., single-issue voting.
As a result, church questionnaires should conform to the following guidelines:
(1) Questionnaires should be sent to all candidates;
(2) The questions should cover a wide variety of issues;
(3) The questions should not indicate a bias toward the church's preferred answer;
(4) The candidate's responses should not be compared to the church's preferred position;
(5) The responses should be published in the candidate's own words or in a neutral, unbiased, and complete summary of the candidate's position; and
(6) The survey should not be published under the direction or control, direct or indirect, of any candidate.
Item 15 (b). Voting records of incumbents.
Churches may also publish the voting records of incumbent public officeholders. In the case of publication of voting records, the church has more leeway than in publishing candidate surveys as follows:
(1) Incumbent's positions should not be compared to the positions of other candidates or the church's position;
(2)The voting record should be distributed on a regular basis, not just at election time;
(3) The voting record should be broadly distributed to the general public, not targeted to certain voting blocs; and
(4) A variety of issues of interest to the general public should be presented.
Item 16. Distribution by others of political statements in church parking lots.
Under many state constitutions, if a church parking lot is open for public use, people have a free speech right to distribute literature there. Even if there is no such right, a church is not responsible for political literature distributed by others in its parking lot without its permission or consent and a church has no obligation to bar people from distributing political literature there.
Item 17. Rental of church lists to political candidates (at fair market value).
Lists of members of the church congregation may be rented to candidates for their use in seeking support or raising funds. The candidate must pay fair market value for the list if it is rented from the church.
Item 18. Church bulletin or newsletter.
(a) & (b) Political ads at regular rates.
A church bulletin or newsletter may publish an ad for a political candidate or a political action committee, as long as the ad is purchased at the regular rate for ads published in that bulletin or newsletter. If discounts are given regular advertisers under certain circumstances, the same discounts may be extended to the political advertiser. A political ad may not be sold to a candidate at less than the regular rate since this would constitute a financial contribution to the candidate. Churches may accept paid political advertising provided the advertisement is identified as paid political advertising, the church expressly states that it does not endorse the candidate, and advertising is solicited from all candidates on an equal basis.
(c) News stories.
A church bulletin or newsletter may publish news stories on political candidates and political campaigns. The publication of voting records and candidate surveys in bulletins are subject to the limitations delineated in Items 15 (a) and (b).
(d) Editorials.
A church bulletin or newsletter, however, may not publish an editorial endorsing a candidate for political office.