Religious and Denominational Organization Letter

April 4, 2017

Dear Speaker Ryan, Majority Leader McConnell, Leader Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Chairman Brady, Chairman Hatch, Ranking Member Neal, and Ranking Member Wyden:

We, the 99 undersigned religious and denominational organizations strongly oppose any effort to weaken or eliminate protections that prohibit 501(c)(3) organizations, including houses of worship, from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Current law serves as a valuable safeguard for the integrity of our charitable sector[1] and campaign finance system.

Religious leaders often use their pulpits to address the moral and political issues of the day. They also can, in their personal capacities and without the resources of their houses of worship, endorse and oppose political candidates. Houses of worship can engage in public debate on any issue, host candidate forums, engage in voter registration drives, encourage people to vote, help transport people to the polls and even, with a few boundaries, lobby on specific legislation and invite candidates to speak. Tax-exempt houses of worship may not, however, endorse or oppose candidates or use their tax-exempt donations to contribute to candidates’ campaigns. Current law simply limits groups from being both a tax-exempt ministry and a partisan political entity.  

As religious organizations, we oppose any attempt to weaken the current protections offered by the 501(c)(3) campaign intervention prohibition because: 

People of faith do not want partisan political fights infiltrating their houses of worship. Houses of worship are spaces for members of religious communities to come together, not be divided along political lines; faith ought to be a source of connection and community, not division and discord. Indeed, the vast majority of Americans do not want houses of worship to issue political endorsements.[2] Particularly in today’s political climate, such endorsements would be highly divisive and would have a detrimental impact  on civil discourse.

Current law protects the integrity of houses of worship. If houses of worship endorse candidates, their prophetic voice, their ability to speak truth to power as political outsiders, is threatened. The credibility and integrity of congregations would suffer with bad decisions of candidates they endorsed. Tying America’s houses of worship to partisan activity demeans the institutions from which so many believers expect unimpeachable decency. 

Current law protects the independence of houses of worship. Houses of worship often speak out on issues of justice and morality and do good works within the community but may also labor to adequately fund their ministries. Permitting electioneering in churches would give partisan groups incentive to use congregations as a conduit for political activity and expenditures. Changing the law would also make them vulnerable to individuals and corporations who could offer large donations or a politician promising social service contracts in exchange for taking a position on a candidate. Even proposals that would permit an “insubstantial” standard or allow limited electioneering only if it is in furtherance of an
organization’s mission would actually invite increased government intrusion, scrutiny, and oversight.

The charitable sector, particularly houses of worship, should not become another cog in a political machine or another loophole in campaign finance laws. We strongly urge you to oppose any efforts to repeal or weaken protections in the law for 501(c)(3) organizations, including houses of worship.

Sincerely,

FN1 Some have suggested a desire to remove this safeguard only as it applies to houses of worship and to keep all other 501(c)(3) organizations at the status quo. This path, however, is constitutionally problematic under Texas Monthly v. Bullock, 489 U.S. 1 (1989).

FN2 E.g., National Association of Evangelicals, Pastors Shouldn’t Endorse Politicians, Evangelical Leaders Survey (February 2017) (finding 89% of evangelical leaders oppose pastors endorsing candidates from the pulpit); Bob Smietana, Skip the Endorsements in Church, Say Most Americans, LIFEWAY RESEARCH (Sept. 8, 2016) (finding 79% of Americans believe it is inappropriate for a pastor to publicly endorse political candidates during a church service and 75% agreeing that churches should steer clear of endorsements); Daniel Cox, Ph.D. and Robert P. Jones, Ph.D. Majority of Americans Oppose Transgender Bathroom Restrictions, Public Religion Research Institute (March 10, 2017) (finding 71% of Americans and all major religious groups in the county oppose allowing churches to endorse political candidates while retaining their tax-exempt status).