Hundreds of Pastors Preach Politics in Defiance of IRS Ban

In what has become an election-season rite, hundreds of preachers nationwide injected politics into their sermons Sunday, challenging the law barring churches with charity status from directly endorsing or opposing candidates, The Wall Street Journal writes. Conservative group the Alliance Defending Freedom, which organizes “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” said nearly 1,500 pastors had agreed to take part this year.

A spokeswoman for the Arizona-based group, which has organized the event since 2008, said the Internal Revenue Service has yet to revoke a participating church’s tax exemption. Backers of the effort say the ban violates faith groups’ freedom of speech. Earlier this year a secular organization, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, dropped a federal lawsuit over the lack of action of IRS action on churches’ politicking after receiving assurances from the government that the agency is enforcing the regulation.