DALLAS (ABP) — Recently publicized efforts by President Bush's re-election campaign to target “conservative churches” have caused the leader of Texas Baptists' public-ethics agency to issue a strong reminder to congregations about how to avoid risking their tax-exempt legal status when dealing with politics.
“Politicians and political parties will inevitably be looking for ways to transform a place of worship to a place of partisan politics,” said Phil Strickland, director of the Baptist General Convention's Christian Life Commission. “When that happens, the churches move from worshiping to campaigning. And that is not the role of the church.
“God does not call us to be centers of political power,” Foster continued. “He calls us to be prophetic.”
When Christians see injustice, mistreatment or corruption, they are called by God to confront it regardless of the political party involved, Strickland said. “This means that we will inevitably be critics of both political parties.”
From a Baptist perspective, there are things churches should and should not do. But from a legal perspective, there are things congregations can and cannot do if they are to remain tax-exempt, he explained.
“Churches are free to address issues as aggressively as they choose” and can urge people to vote, Strickland said. But, “they are not free to support candidates while maintaining their tax exemption.”
The Bush campaign document sets forth a detailed plan of action for religious volunteers. One section lists 22 “coalition coordinator” duties and lays out a timeline.
By July 31, for example, the coordinator is to “send your church directory to your state Bush-Cheney '04 headquarters or give to a … [campaign] field representative.” By Aug. 15, the coordinator is to “talk to your church's seniors or 20- to 30-something group about Bush/Cheney 04.”
By Oct. 24, the volunteer should “distribute voter guides in your church” and “finish calling all pro-Bush members of your church and encourage them to vote.”
Strickland claimed those recommendations crossed the line. “It is not appropriate for a church to turn its membership list over to any campaign whether it be local or national,” he said.
As for a so-called “voter guide” that lists candidates' positions on various issues, Strickland said it is “appropriate if it is an honest attempt to look at how people stand on issues, not as a document seeking to promote one candidate or set of candidates over another.”
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, agreed.
In a statement on his agency's website, Land said: “It's one thing for the church to have a voter registration drive, to seek to inform church members on public policy issues, to encourage church members to fulfill their Christian duty to vote, and to encourage them to vote their values, beliefs and convictions. It's another thing entirely for a partisan campaign to ask church members to bring in church directories for use as contact lists by the campaign and to seek to come into the church and do a voter registration drive and distribute campaign literature.”
Land said he fears the Bush-Cheney effort “may provoke a backlash in which pastors will tell their churches that because of this intrusion the church is not going to do any voter registration or voter education. That would be tragic,” he said.
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