| |
Guidelines for Political Activities
of Churches and Pastors |
| |
| Many times, people of faith incorrectly believe they are legally prohibited from being involved in elective politics. The truth is, people of faith are far more free to be involved in politics than some people would have us believe. America is a free country. People of faith should not be intimidated or deceived into believing they cannot be politically active. The following list offers some general guidelines.
For more details, contact our campaign office and we will assist you and your church or congregation.
(808) 682-0676 Email:Mike |
| |
| What Is and Is Not Acceptable Political Activity |
Church |
Pastor |
| 1 |
Discuss the positions of candidates on public issues? |
yes |
yes |
| 2 |
Endorsement of Political Candidates? |
no |
yes |
| 3 |
Contributions to Political Candidates? |
no |
yes |
| 4 |
In-Kind Expenditures In Favor of or Against Political Candidates? |
no |
yes |
| 5 |
Independent Expenditures In Favor of or Against Political Candidates? |
no |
yes |
| 6 |
Contributions to PACs? |
no |
yes |
| 7 |
Payment of Expenses for Attendance at Convention? |
no |
yes |
| 8 |
Appearance of Candidate at Church Meeting or Service? |
yes |
n/a |
| 9 |
Distribute: |
|
|
| |
(a) Candidate Surveys |
yes |
yes |
| |
(b) Voting Records |
yes |
yes |
| |
(c) Candidate Political Statement |
no |
yes |
| 10 |
Distribution by others of Candidate Political Statements in Church Parking Lot |
yes |
n/a |
| 11 |
Rent Church List (at Market Value) |
yes |
n/a |
| 12 |
Non-partisan Voter Education and Registration |
yes |
yes |
| 13 |
Church Bulletin or Newsletter: |
|
|
| |
(1) Political Ads at regular rate |
yes |
n/a |
| |
(2) Political Ads at less than regular rate |
no |
n/a |
| |
(3) News Stories |
yes |
n/a |
| |
(4) Editorials |
no |
n/a |
|
| |
Explanation of Individual Items
Item 1. Discuss the positions of candidates on public 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.
The endorsement of a 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. A church may not engage in express advocacy, but a pastor, in his individual capacity, may.
Item 8. Candidate Appearance at Church Meeting.
A political candidate may appear at a church service. The appearance of a candidate before a church service, however, is limited as follows:
(1) any other candidate for the office or any other political party who is a candidate for the office who requests to appear must be given the same opportunity, and
(2) no solicitation for funds for the candidate or endorsement of the candidate may be made by any representative of the church.
In addition, a church may allow political candidates to have a meeting or use the facilities of the church on the same basis that civic groups and other organizations are allowed to. If civic groups and other organizations are required to pay some rent for using the church property, the political candidate should be charged the same amount.
Item 9 (a). Candidate Survey.
A church may publish or distribute the results of surveys of candidates on public issues. Such surveys, however, must be non-partisan. As a result, 501 (c) (3) church groups should observe the following conditions in publishing or distributing the survey:
(1) publish the response of all the candidates for the particular office by use of
"yes" and "no". Avoid use of "+" and "-" or "pro-life". The survey should not specify what is the desired response;
(2) do not include any words indicating either endorsement of or support for any of the candidates or indicate that the reader should "vote pro-life". Advocacy of any issue voting should be reserved for other issues of the church bulletin when the survey is not published; and
(3) do not publish the response to the survey under the control, direct or indirect, of any candidate. It is preferable that candidate surveys involve a variety of issues, but this is not required.
Item 9 (b). Voting Records.
501 (c) (3) church groups 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) the church, in publishing the incumbent's votes on particular issues, may indicate the church's view and the fact that the incumbent supported or opposed the church's view. Thus, "+" or "-" or "pro-life" and "anti-life" may be used, and
(2) in other respects, the publications should be non-partisan. As a result, the voting records of all incumbents in the area should be presented, candidates for reelection should not be identified, no comment should be made on an individual's overall qualifications for public office, and no statements expressly advocating the election or defeat of any incumbent as a candidate for public office should be offered.
Item 11. Rental of Church List to Political Candidates.
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 the fair market value for the list if it is rented from the church.
Item 12. 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, where to vote, helping or assisting people to register and get out the vote drives. All such activity is permissible as long as it is not directed at one party or candidate over another.
Item 13. Church Bulletin or Newsletter.
(a) and (b) Political Ads.
A church bulletin or newsletter may publish an ad for a political candidate, as long as the ad is purchased at the regular rate for such ads published in that bulletin. If advertisers are given regular discounts under certain circumstances, the same discounts may be extended to the political advertiser. In addition, the bulletin may be selective in printing ads - for instance, only ads from pro-life candidates can be accepted. A political ad may not be sold to a candidate as a political contribution to the candidate.
(c) News Stories.
A bulletin published by a church may publish without limitation news stories on political candidates, political campaigns and endorsements of political candidates by political organizations. The publication of voting records and candidate surveys in bulletins is subject to the limitations delineated in Item 9 (a) and 9 (b).
(d) Editorials.
A bulletin published by a 501 (c) (3) church, however may not publish an editorial supporting or endorsing a candidate for political office. This would be considered a church endorsement which is not permitted.
Pastors
Pastors, as individuals, have the same rights as all other American citizens to involve themselves in political activity. Pastors thus have much greater latitude to involve themselves in political activities than does a church. The following should guide a pastor regarding personal political activities which may relate to his church position:
(1) A pastor may individually and personally endorse candidates for political office, but a pastor may not endorse candidates on behalf of his church or from the pulpit (even with the caveat that it is his personal viewpoint).
(2) A pastor may allow his name to be used as a supporter of a candidate in the candidate's political advertisements. In this connection, the pastor may be identified as a pastor of a particular church.
(3) While a church may not establish a political action committee, pastors and other like-minded individuals may establish a political action committee, but care should be taken that the committee is separate from the church and no use is made of church assets or facilities except to the extent that the church facilities are allowed to be used by other outside groups. |
| back to top |
 |
