Christian Law Association says the following: The political campaign intervention prohibition does not restrict free expression on political matters by leaders of ministries speaking for themselves, as individuals. Ministry leaders are not prohibited from speaking about important issues of public policy. Leaders cannot make partisan comments in official ministry publications. Leaders cannot make partisan comments at official functions of the ministry. To avoid potential attribution of their comments outside of ministry functions and publications, leaders who speak or write in their individual capacity are encouraged to clearly indicate that their comments are personal and not intended to represent the views of the ministry.
Liberty Counsel, however, advices the opposite:
Liberty Counsel is distributing over 100,000 copies of “Silence is Not an Option,” a DVD and printed material set informing pastors and churches about what is permissible regarding political and advocacy activity.
Silencing people of faith in the public square has always been the goal of those who realize the influence that pastors, churches, and people of faith have on elections. I want pastors to remove the muzzle and replace it with a megaphone. Pastors and churches have a lot of freedom to address Biblical and moral issues, to educate people about the candidates, and to encourage people to vote. Not one church has ever lost its tax-exemption for endorsing or opposing candidates or for supporting or opposing local, state or federal laws.
Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel advices:
Liberty Counsel‘s purpose is to set the record straight, because “not one church has lost its tax-exempt status for endorsing or opposing a candidate for office or for supporting or opposing legislation.” There are rules, however, which spokesman Matt Staver says are posted on his firm’s website..
“Clearly what pastors can do is preach on the biblical issues,” Staver says. “Biblical issues are never off limits, no matter whether the politicians are speaking about them. They can always preach on biblical issues, such as marriage, abortion and any other host of issues that they can address, and they can also speak about what the candidates’ views are on these particular issues.”
For example, a pastor can talk about President Obama endorsing homosexual “marriage,” or about Mitt Romney’s views on the subject.
“You can talk about the differences in your local or your state or national races. You can give out objective voter guides that are available,” Staver adds. “You can encourage people to register to vote. You can actually set up voter registration in the church.”
If you want to know what an atheists thinks of this, here is an example.
