Latest / Challenges of Faith Radio Program / Should pastors give political endorsements? Ep 3439

Transcript

Should pastors give political endorsements? Ep 3439 · Challenges of Faith Radio Program

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Challenges of Faith radio program. I'm Gary McCance.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining. Thank you for joining here on
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: episode 3439. The question is, is your pastor endorsing politicians? Well,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: are they? Regardless of legal indecision, few pastors want to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: endorse candidates. And that's listed in a report that's been
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: released by Aaron Wells over at LifeWay Research. Aaron shares
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: that even if everything was legally settled to allow religious
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: organizations to endorse candidates, few pastors would take that opportunity.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: He stated that the courts... may still be deciding the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: legal status of political endorsement in churches, but most pastors
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: have already made their decision. The LifeWay research study found
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: that 93% of U.S. Protestant pastors say they don't plan
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: to endorse candidates for public office during a worship service,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: despite the IRS saying it will allow churches to do
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: so without losing their tax-exempt status. Since historically very few
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Protestant pastors had endorsed candidates from the pulpit, we were
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: interested in whether the IRS ruling last year would change that,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: said Scott McConnell, who is the executive director of Lifeway Research.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Were pastors simply obeying the tax law, or was there
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: neutrality in the worship settings? their conviction. Beginning in 1954,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the U.S. Tax Code prohibited tax-exempt charitable organizations, including churches,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: from endorsing or opposing political candidates. And since the passage
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of this provision, known as the Johnson Amendment, after then,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Senator Lyndon B. Johnson churches have risked losing their tax-exempt
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: status when they engaged in political acts such as contributing
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: to political campaigns or making public statements in favor of
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: or in opposition to specific candidates. In 2024, the National
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Religious Broadcasters, two Texas churches, and another religious nonprofit sued
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the IRS over the rule claiming it violated their First
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Those parties reached a settlement in 2025 with the IRS
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: changing its 70-year precedent and allowing churches to endorse political
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: candidates in their usual channels of communication without risking tax-related consequences. However,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: a district court judge's ruling in March rejected the settlement
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Judge J. Campbell Barker in the United States District Court
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: for the Eastern District of Texas dismissed the lawsuit. Barker
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: ruled that federal courts do not have the jurisdiction to
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: change the tax status of a plaintiff or create tax
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: law exemptions. The plaintiffs appealed the decision to the Fifth U.S.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Circuit Court of Appeals, which has yet to rule. As
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: part of that appeal, the U.S. Justice Department submitted a
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: brief in favor of the settlement and urged the appeals
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: court to reverse the ruling. However, even if everything were
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: legally settled to allow religious organizations to endorse candidates, few
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: pastors would take that opportunity. Responding after the IRS announced
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: its policy change, but before Judge Barker rejected the settlement,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Pastors affirm their long-standing avoidance of political endorsements from the pulpit.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Only 5% of U.S. Protestant pastors say they plan to
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: publicly endorse candidates doing a worship service at their church,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: while 93% say no and 2% are not sure. While
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: few pastors plan to make such endorsements, some are more
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: likely than others to. African American pastors, 11%, and pastors
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: of other communities, 9%. And more likely to make endorsements
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: than white pastors, 4%. White pastors are the most likely
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: to say they do not plan to publicly endorse candidates, 94%.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Pastors in the South are more likely than pastors in
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: the Midwest to say yes to endorsing candidates, 7% versus 3%.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Pastors without a college degree are more likely to say
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: yes than those with a master's degree. 8% versus 3%.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Pastors with a master's degree are the most likely to
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: say no. 96%. Denominationally, after I take a sip of
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: my water, I know you don't mind, but it gives
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: you a chance to take a sip of yours. Boy,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: the coffee. Boy, your tea. Boy, your orange juice. Pentecostal, 13%. Baptist, 9%. Holiness, 7%.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: And non-denominational, 7%. Pastors are more likely than Lutherans, 1%.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: And Methodists, 1%. To say they plan to endorse a candidate.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: In a government run by representatives elected by the people,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: elections are a key form of civic involvement. For Christians,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: said McConnell, pastors teach regularly on topics that can be
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: part of voting decisions such as moral standards, justice, and priorities.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Yet few church traditions have more than a few percent
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: of pastors planning to endorse specific candidates if it is permitted.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Pastors have been consistently opposed to political endorsements from the
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: pulpit for the past decade. In the past three presidential cycles,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: according to Lifeway Research, few pastors endorsed a candidate during
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: a church service. 2% in 2024, 1% in 2020, and
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: 1% in 2016. Americans, meanwhile, have grown more accepting of
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: direct political involvement from pastors. The share of Americans who
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: believe it is appropriate for pastors to endorse candidates during
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the church service has steadily climbed. In a 2008 LifeWay
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: research study, 13% believed it was acceptable. That grew to
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: 19% in 2015. Online surveys showed higher levels of acceptance
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: at 24% in 2020 and 29% in 2024. If the
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: public wants to know a pastor's political opinions, They're more
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: likely to hear them when pastors step away from the pulpit.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: In 2024, 25% of U.S. Protestant pastors say they had
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: endorsed a candidate outside of their church role that year. However,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the legal arguments on the Johnson Amendment are settled. It
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: may have very little impact on candidate endorsements from church,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: said McConnell. If the IRS ultimately allowed candidates to be
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: endorsed in church services, 93% of pastors will not do so.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: What pastors say from the pulpit has far more to
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: do with their religious conviction than avoiding tax penalties. All right,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: pastors who listen to the program, clergy, ministers, laypersons, what's
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: your thoughts? I know you have one. But it has
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: to be in accordance with the law of the Lamb.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: You know it's true.