First Amendment protects right to preach on any issue at election time

Oct 23, 2000

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty today told religious leaders that a letter from a group urging them to "keep quiet" about issues that might touch upon this year's elections simply doesn't reflect their rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

"The First Amendment should protect the freedom of any religious minister (whether rabbi or reverend, imam or shaman) to preach about anything at all (including politics of the left, right or center) without the threat of fines or other government sanctions," wrote Becket Fund President and General Counsel Kevin J. Hasson.

The letter to clergy throughout the nation notes that many of them "recently received a letter from Americans United for Separation of Church and State ("AUSCS") warning of the penalties that the IRS may impose on tax-exempt churches if they advocate for or against political candidates." The Americans United letter purports "to help guide you through this legally daunting terrain," but clearly implies that "the best course of action is to keep quiet . . . Although that is precisely their intent, that is not, in our view, what the law requires," the Becket Fund letter explains.

Hasson points out that AUSCS cites "not a single case—and we have found none—in which a lower court allowed the IRS to sanction such a religious body for what was preached from the pulpit." In fact, the last time the federal government tried to squelch moral and political preaching, the Becket Fund sued on behalf of an inter-religious coalition of ministers and won. (The case was Rigdon v. Perry, a 1997 case in which The Becket Fund successfully challenged the Clinton Administration's attempt to prohibit military chaplains from preaching against the White House veto of the partial birth abortion bill.)

Hasson noted in the letter that "if the IRS threatens to fine you or revoke your tax-exempt status based on your religious teaching during the election season, I urge you to call us immediately, so that we can discuss the possibility of representing you – free of charge – in a lawsuit to vindicate your constitutional rights."