Tag Archives: ADF: Erik Stanley

World Net Daily: “The Boy Scouts of America shouldn’t give in to intimidation or abandon its values,” said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for Arizona-based ADF and an Eagle Scout. Scouting begins as young as 6 and continues through age 18. “The Boy Scouts should once again stand firm on moral principles that have successfully shaped our nation’s boys into leaders for generations,” says David Cortman, senior ADF counsel.

One News Now: The Boy Scouts of America “shouldn’t give in to intimidation or abandon its values,” says Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel at Arizona-based ADF and an Eagle Scout.

Barry Lynn of AU at Washington Post: Every year, the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Religious Right legal group founded by radio and TV preachers, hosts “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.” During this euphemistically named and highly choreographed event, a handful of misguided pastors openly break the law by endorsing or opposing candidates from the pulpit. Some send their sermons to the IRS and occasionally even send me a copy so I can forward them to the IRS. These churches didn’t just go up to the line, they leaped right over it.

Edmond Sun: Speakers for the event will Blair on the topic of “What Did the Founders Think? The Biblical Foundation of Government,” while Dan Fisher, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Yukon and a state representative for District 60, will speak on “What Did the Founders Do? The Black Robed Regiment.” Erik Stanley, an attorney and senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, will speak on the topic “What Can We Do? The Rights of Christians and Pastors in 2013.”

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement: But what should be reported is that the targeting by the IRS goes even deeper than what is just reported. Because the IRS has been targeting churches since the passage of the Johnson Amendment in 1954. There is no difference between what the IRS has been caught doing with conservative groups and what the IRS has done to churches for the last 59 years. Both are intimidation.

Peter J. Reilly at Forbes: Erik Stanley of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the nondenominational megachurch, told me that they are planning to appeal. The argument is that, in Tennessee, universities can run bookstores without affecting their property tax exemption and “family wellness centers” can run fitness clubs (As a matter of fact, the church has turned operation of the fitness center over to the YMCA), so churches should be able to also run both of them. For whatever it is worth, neither operation was a money maker.

Peter J. Reilly at Forbes: The church was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom. Erik Stanley of ADF had commented earlier in the litigation: “Tax exemptions for churches are vitally important because it doesn’t make sense to penalize organizations that help serve the community and don’t exist for profit–and that’s certainly true with this church,” Stanley explained. “The taxing authorities in this case determined that the facilities were not integral to a religious purpose of the church, but the government is ill-equipped to determine what is and what isn’t a legitimate religious use. That’s why it shouldn’t be delving into church affairs. Doing so violates the constitutionally protected rights of the church.”

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement: Forcing churches to stop hosting Scout troops is a big step in the process of sidelining churches. And we’ve seen enough attempts to render the Church irrelevant in the community.

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement: America is in the midst of a debate on the definition of marriage, the foundation for a stable society and a stable home.  Americans desperately need to hear from their pastors what God says about marriage, the institution He created. This year, our country faces one of the most pressing issues in our history as efforts are underway to radically redefine the institution of marriage, the relationship that God established long ago in the Garden of Eden even before the Fall of mankind. . . . With all this in mind, Pulpit Freedom Sunday 2013 will be a Sunday focused on marriage.

Michael Foust at Baptist Press: Bylaw language defining marriage in the biblical sense doesn’t mean a church won’t face a suit or a complaint, but it does mean the church would be in a much better situation legally, said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for ADF. “I think we’re in a day where every church needs to have a statement in its bylaws of its doctrinal beliefs on marriage and sexuality,” Stanley told Baptist Press. “This is a proactive approach that churches can take to head off any claims of discrimination in the future, should they occur. There’s no magic language for such a bylaw statement, but it should be some form of a statement of the church’s religious beliefs.

Erik Stanley on Wallbuilders Live to discuss the Pulpit Freedom Initiative. | MP3 10:46 mins

One News Now: Stanley tells OneNewsNow the Fredericksburg City Council claims the children are dangerous. “What it really boils down to is just that the city council is exhibiting a really prejudicial attitude and stereotypes about disabled kids,” he states. “These children are not dangerous. There’s no evidence that they’ve ever been dangerous, but yet the city council denied zoning because of their fear.”

RealTruth.org: Partly as a result of this action, ministers across America risked their status as tax-exempt charities and tackled politics from the pulpit: “About 1,600 pastors across the country violated a 58-year-old ban on political endorsements by churches in October by explicitly backing political candidates in their Sunday sermons, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom of Scottsdale, Ariz., a conservative Christian legal organization behind a campaign called Pulpit Freedom Sunday” (NBC News).

Rev. Robert A. Crutchfield at Faith That Inspires Action (includes Erik Stanley Audio Soundbite): Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley will be available for media interviews Tuesday following his oral argument at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit seeking reinstatement of a church school’s lawsuit against the city of Fredericksburg. In 2011, the city council refused to allow a church to begin a school program for mentally and emotionally challenged children even though city planning officials recommended approval.

Disabled children a threat? Fredericksburg thinks so

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement: This lawsuit is really about two things. First, it is about generating publicity for Freedom From Religion Foundation. A quick lawsuit, even if it gets dismissed at a later point, can earn some headlines. But secondly, this lawsuit is about fostering FFRF’s radical agenda. FFRF, a group of radical separationist atheists, envisions a future where the tax code is used against churches and pastors to punish them for speaking out on issues of candidates and elections.

Edwin Ekene at allAfrica.com: Actually, it was a debate between Erik Stanley, the head of the Pulpit Initiative for Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys in the United States, and Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the Executive Director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. The title of the debate, which was published in the Los Angeles Times of September 23, 2008, was, “Why Don’t Churches Pay Taxes?”

Erik Stanley at LifeNews: Well, ninety days have come and gone since over 1,500 pastors participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday on October 7,2012. And the IRS has not taken any action against any of the pastors who participated. Actually, the title of this blog post could have been “Four years and Counting” because Alliance Defending Freedom first launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008.

Mercury News: “Since 1954 and the Johnson Amendment, the IRS has set itself up as the pulpit police,” said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for Alliance, which has about 2,200 lawyers assisting with the initiative. Stanley said his group supports the free-speech rights of pastors on both sides of the political aisle. “Pulpit Freedom Sunday is really all about protecting a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit and not be intimidated or censored by the government for doing so,” he said. His group at some point wants to generate a “test case” in hopes of having the Johnson Amendment declared unconstitutional. Alliance may indeed have a case.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley will be available for media interviews following his oral argument Tuesday at the Arizona Court of Appeals in defense of a church facing an illegally assessed property tax bill that would force it to shut down.

Everyday Christian: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) started Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008 to challenge the 1954 Johnson Amendment that prohibits tax-exempt churches from making political endorsements. ADF hoped the IRS would take action so that a lawsuit could be filed that would repeal the law. “It’s outrageous for pastors and churches to be threatened or punished by the government for applying biblical teachings to all areas of life, including candidates and elections,” ADF legal counsel Erik Stanley told Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link last month. He added that the purpose of the October event was “to make sure that the pastor, and not the IRS, decides what is said from the pulpit.”

World: “It’s outrageous for pastors and churches to be threatened or punished by the government for applying biblical teachings to all areas of life, including candidates and elections,” ADF legal counsel Erik Stanley told Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link last month. He added that the purpose of the October event was “to make sure that the pastor, and not the IRS, decides what is said from the pulpit.”

Christian Post: Churches shouldn’t be treated differently than other entities in Tennessee – such as college bookstores, family wellness centers, and hospital gift shops – that are tax exempt by law,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley in a statement.

Nick Vadala at The Philly Post: Headed up by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian group out of Arizona, the stunt essentially makes a mockery out of the IRS’s code enforcement. Most endorsements, unsurprisingly, go to Romney or Republicans generally, but that’s beside the point. Endorsement on either side is simply against the law . . . Erik Stanley of the ADF told the Washington Times that the FFRF’s lawsuit “borders on frivolous” and that it probably will go nowhere in court. There’s also very little chance that the FFRF will be able to prove they’ve been done damage by the IRS’s un-enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. But even if they could, as much as I hate to say it, he’s right about the lawsuit missing the mark . . . All I hear when pastors endorse Romney (or Obama, or Jill Stein, or whoever) is “charge us, we would like to contribute to the society that pays our way.” Let the ADF think they’re freedom fighters for the religious set; it’ll cost them eventually.

Tennessean: The preachers and their allies at Alliance Defending Freedom, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based Christian legal group, say the ban is unconstitutional. More than 1,000 preachers nationwide endorsed candidates in this year’s Pulpit Freedom Sunday, in hopes of prompting IRS investigations. So far the IRS has not responded. Now those preachers may have their day in court, with help from an unlikely source – the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

God Discussion Blog: For the past few years, religious right groups have been encouraging pastors to endorse candidates and political matters from the pulpit during “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.” The effort has been spearheaded by the Christian advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly known as the Alliance Defense Fund) and actively promoted by groups such as Liberty Counsel. At least 1,500 pastors reportedly participated in “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” this year, on October 7.

Washington Times: “I think the lawsuit itself really borders on frivolous. I don’t know how the FFRF can claim they’ve been harmed by the IRS‘ refusal to enforce the Johnson Amendment,” Mr. Stanley said. “But, on the chance it does, then we will seek to protect those churches.”

Citizen Link: Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley said churches shouldn’t be treated differently than other entities. “It’s a widely known fact that churches across America effectively use facilities such as gyms and bookstores for clear religious purposes and are exempt from property taxes just like other organizations that serve the community — often at a loss,” he said. “Really what the state was doing was attempting to define what ministry was for Christ Church by telling them that they can’t use their facilities to reach out to evangelize, to build up their own membership.”

Erik Stanley appeared on the Drew Mariani Show to discuss Pulpit Freedom Sunday. | MP3 audio 14:30 mins

Christ Church Pentecostal is appealing a lower court’s decision to deny the church tax-exempt status on part of its property under the argument that they are not an integral part of the church’s ministry even though the facilities, a gymnasium and non-profit bookstore, are used exclusively for ministry outreach. Tennessee law allows similar facilities that are not on church property to be tax-exempt.

CNSNews: Erik Stanley, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund), said flatly that CREW’s complaint is “bogus.” “This is a favorite tactic of advocacy groups that believe in a radical secularist view of America,” Stanley …

NBC (includes several videos of pastors): About 1,600 pastors across the country violated a 58-year-old ban on political endorsements by churches in October by explicitly backing political candidates in their Sunday sermons, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom of Scottsdale, Ariz., a conservative Christian legal organization behind a campaign called Pulpit Freedom Sunday . . . The Alliance Defending Freedom asserts that it’s working to further the rights of all religious groups, but it’s an explicitly Christian organization, with a heavy representation of evangelical members and leaders. One clue to its philosophy is that it made it Pulpit Freedom “Sunday” — choosing the Christian Sabbath, instead of more broadly embracing the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) and the Muslim day of worship (Friday) . . . But Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said it’s clear that the agency is sidestepping the issue. “We surmise the IRS has shut down all its church audits,” Stanley said. As time goes on, he added, “It may become clear that the IRS has taken the position that it will not censor a pastor.”

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement Church Blog: Recently, an IRS official was quoted as saying that the IRS had suspended auditing churches. Does this mean that the IRS has thrown up its hands and given up on enforcing the tax code against churches? The answer is “no,” the IRS has not given up and the tax code still applies to churches. The IRS official was Russell Renwicks with the Tax-Exempt and Government Entities division. He said that the IRS had received some complaints about potential violations of the tax code by churches this election cycle. But he stated, “We are holding any potential church audits in abeyance.” What did he mean by this? Mr. Renwick’s statement stems from a 2009 court ruling involving the IRS’ regulations related to church audits.

Matt Barber at LIfe News: The jig is up. The news is out. Pastors across America have called the left’s bluff. The empty words “separation of church and state” – a phrase found nowhere in the U.S. Constitution – have lost their sting . . . But there’s a back story. Since 2008, the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has spearheaded a First Amendment exercise called “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.” Since then, thousands of pastors across America have boldly exercised their guaranteed constitutional rights by addressing “political” issues from the pulpit. This has included directly endorsing candidates. These pastors have dared the IRS to come after them and, not surprisingly, the IRS has balked.

Christian Post: Jim Garlow, who leads Skyline Church in San Diego, announced from the pulpit that he is voting for Mitt Romney, but stopped short of a blanket endorsement. “My endorsement will be Jesus,” Garlow said. “I’ll tell you whom I’m going to vote for, but I don’t think that makes it an endorsement. I’m going to vote for Mitt Romney, but I’m not telling you to.” Garlow’s announcement came during a campaign known as “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” which was promoted by the Alliance Defending Freedom and held on Oct. 8 of this year. The intent of the campaign was to make pastors and churches aware of the legal rights in addressing political and governmental issues. “The purpose is to make sure that the pastor – and not the IRS – decides what is said from the pulpit,” Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the group, told FoxNews.com. “It is a head-on constitutional challenge.”

Hollywood Reporter: Organized by Alliance Defending Freedom, its goal is to force a response from the IRS so that the issue can be resolved in a court of law, said the group’s senior legal counsel Erik Stanley. “The 58-year-old Johnson Amendment in the tax code — which is what the IRS uses to restrict what pastors can and cannot say from the pulpit — is unconstitutional,” Stanley said.

Wisconsin State Journal: On Nov. 4, the Rev. John Clark plans to get a few things off his chest, possibly breaking the law in the process . . . Alliance Defending Freedom is a conservative Christian legal organization based in Scottsdale, Ariz. Erik Stanley, its senior legal counsel, said pastors should be able to say whatever they want to their followers, even to the point of endorsing political candidates. “It’s the pastor’s job to decide what to preach from the pulpit, not the IRS’s,” he said.

ProCon.org: Eric Stanley, ADF’s senior legal counsel, said in a statement that the IRS “has the ability and the authority to regulate their sermons. We are giving them the opportunity to do that and if they challenge that, we will challenge that in court. It is all about creating a test case to find the Johnson amendment as unconstitutional.” According to Stanley, after the sermons are delivered, pastors participating in the event are “encouraged to send videos of their remarks to the IRS.”

Erik Stanley on 740 KTRH, The Matt Patrick Show to discuss Pulpit Freedom Sunday. | MP3 audio 4:26 mins

Erik Stanley on the Schilling Show to discuss Pulpit Freedom Sunday. | MP3 audio 3:57 mins

The Right Perspective: The Pulpit Freedom Sunday movement, launched in 2008 by the Christian legal ministry Alliance Defending Freedom, argues the 501(c)(3) federal tax code that prohibits tax-exempt organizations from speaking for or against a political candidate is an incursion on freedom of religion and freedom of speech . . . “The ADF wants to elect the next president. They want to elect Mitt Romney,” Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told CNN. “This is not about some principle.”

Karen Gushta at the Christian Post: But Erik Stanley, Senior ADF Legal Counsel, says “the AU is using an unconstitutional law to try and intimidate and scare churches.” The problem, says Stanley, is that the Johnson Amendment “is blatantly unconstitutional.” As he wrote at Townhall.com (10/8/2012) those who argue that this is a “taxation issue” are missing the point that this is in truth a free speech issue. “Pastors have been applying scriptural teaching to circumstances facing their congregations for centuries,” writes Stanley. “This is not ‘political’ speech. Rather, it’s core religious expression from a spiritual leader to his congregants. That kind of expression is at the very center of the freedom of speech and religion protections in the First Amendment.” According to Stanley, “The real question is this: When has the government ever been allowed to condition any government-recognized status (such as tax-exempt status) on the surrender of a constitutionally protected freedom?”

Amy Ridenour’s National Center Blog: The Alliance Defending Freedom promotes Pulpit Freedom Sundays (and there have been several) to provoke a ruling against the church from the IRS and create a case that the organization plans to use to have the “Johnson Amendment” ruled unconstitutional . . . Project 21 member Archbishop Council Nedd II — the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Missionary Church . . . “I don’t understand why my fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ want to use their precious pulpit time to talk about Caesar rather than God.” Furthermore, Archbishop Nedd suggests that discussion of public policy can be a part of a perfectly acceptable religious service that would not put the church in harm’s way from IRS scrutiny . . .

Erik Stanley appeared with Don Taylor on SuperTalk.fm to discuss Pulpit Freedom Sunday. | MP3 audio 14:20 mins

CNN Belief Blog (includes video): In a sermon that likely broke the law, Indiana pastor Ron Johnson told his 400 congregants Sunday that for those who believe in the Bible, the decision to vote against President Barack Obama “is a no-brainer.” “For Christian people who believe the Bible is the inspired world of God, it is not rocket science,” Johnson told CNN after his sermon . . . The IRS has the ability and the authority to regulate their sermons. We are giving them the opportunity to do that, and if they challenge that, we will challenge that in court,” said Erik Stanley, Alliance Defending Freedom’s senior legal counsel. “It is all about creating a test case to find the Johnson Amendment as unconstitutional.”

Eric Stanley appeared on the Victoria Taft Show to report on Pulpit Freedom Sunday. | MP3 audio 4:23 mins

One News Now: Stanley says that as in previous years, ADF is in a wait-and-see mode. “… We’re still waiting to see whether the IRS is going to react, and we’ll continue to wait,” he comments. “So if they do, we will be prepared to represent these pastors and churches and to seek to have the Johnson Amendment declared unconstitutional and removed from the books once and for all.” [more]

LifeSiteNews: “America’s founders would have agreed, a pastor is the one who should determine what he says from the pulpit, not the federal government—and that is as it should be,” said Erik Stanley, who headed the Alliance Defending Freedom’s Pulpit Initiative. Participating churches ranged from Baptist, Pentecostal, and Church of Christ to Anglican, Lutheran, and United Methodist. Only 10 institutions appeared to be affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, including . . .

LifeNews: “Pastors should decide what they preach from the pulpit, not the IRS,” said Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley. “It’s outrageous for pastors and churches to be threatened or punished by the government for applying biblical teachings to all areas …

Joe Carter at Acton Institute Power Blog: I should clarify, however, that while I may have religious objections to preachers endorsing candidates during church services, I believe they have the right to do so. Indeed, they should be able to freely exercise those rights without having to endure government intimidation. As Stanley says in a recent op-ed, “Just as with those other rights, free speech is a constitutionally protected freedom, not a privilege that the government can grant or revoke while dangling the tax-exempt status of the speaker’s church over his head.” [more]

Article 3 Blog: The Alliance Defending Freedom hopes that these premeditated violations will provoke the IRS to take notice, and hopefully bring the issue to court. To garner attention, pastors sent send videos and text copies of their politically charged sermons directly to the IRS. Eric Stanley, senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, said: The IRS has the ability and the authority to regulate [pastors’] sermons. We are giving them the opportunity to do that and if they challenge that, we will challenge that in court. It is all about creating a test case to find the Johnson amendment as unconstitutional.

Accounting Web: Now several tax-exempt organizations are taking a bold, proactive stance. The vocal Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian ministry based in Arizona that organized the first Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008, believes the law violates First Amendment rights by muzzling the clergy. It wants to press the matter until it’s decided in court. “Every pastor and every church has the right to decide what their pastor preaches from the pulpit and to not have that dictated to them by the IRS,” said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the group.

WorldNetDaily: Preaching about scriptural principles and applying them to the positions of candidates for public office is not “political” speech, it’s “core religious expression from a spiritual leader to his congregants.” That’s according to Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, which reported today that nearly 1,600 pastors of churches across the nation participated in its Pulpit Initiative this past weekend. [more]

KCRA (CNN): Johnson’s anti-Obama sermonizing likely violated the so-called Johnson Amendment, an Internal Revenue Service rule that forbids churches that receive tax-exempt status from the federal government to intervene in “any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.” But Johnson appears comfortable with defying the IRS. His sermon was part of a national campaign by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal organization that has organized Pulpit Freedom Sunday since 2008, encouraging pastors to flout the Johnson Amendment with political endorsements from the pulpit. The IRS has the ability and the authority to regulate their sermons. We are giving them the opportunity to do that, and if they challenge that, we will challenge that in court,” said Erik Stanley, Alliance Defending Freedom’s senior legal counsel. “It is all about creating a test case to find the Johnson Amendment as unconstitutional.”

Non Profit Quarterly: The ADF plans to “actively represent any church or pastor who has been threatened or punished for actively speaking from the pulpit.” This event is intended to provoke the IRS into taking action so that the ADF can challenge and try to overturn the Johnson Amendment (the 1954 change in the U.S. tax code which prohibited tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates). Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for ADF, told Fox News, “The purpose is to make sure that the pastor — and not the IRS — decides what is said from the pulpit. It is a head-on constitutional challenge. We’re hoping the IRS will respond by doing what they have threatened. We have to wait for it to be applied to a particular church or pastor so that we can challenge it in court. We don’t think it’s going to take long for a judge to strike this down as unconstitutional.” . . . The final list of churches that participated in this year’s Pulpit Freedom Sunday action will soon be released by ADF.

CBN (includes video):
Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is behind the Pulpit Freedom Sunday, spoke more about why he believes the current law is wrong. Click play for his comments, following this report

Huffington Post (Reuters): Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel of the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the group was not pushing any particular political agenda and participants came from both conservative and liberal churches. However, the event in past years has tended to be dominated by evangelical fundamentalist churches and conservative causes such as opposition to abortion and gay-marriage. [more]

Nearly 1,500 pastors in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have registered to participate in Alliance Defending Freedom’s fifth annual Pulpit Freedom Sunday.

Erik Stanley at Townhall: In other words, the arguments against Pulpit Freedom Sunday fail because the premise for those arguments is all wrong . . . But pastors who participate in Pulpit Freedom Sunday are not engaging in a “political crusade.” Instead, they are simply applying Scripture and theological doctrine to the positions held by the candidates running for office. Pastors have been applying scriptural teaching to circumstances facing their congregations for centuries. This is not “political” speech. Rather, it’s core religious expression from a spiritual leader to his congregants. That kind of expression is at the very center of the freedom of speech and religion protections in the First Amendment.
The real question is this: When has the government ever been allowed to condition any government-recognized status (such as tax-exempt status) on the surrender of a constitutionally protected freedom?

Christian Post (Oct. 5): Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) has sent out a letter purporting to explain the law regarding “electioneering by nonprofit organizations.” Those who receive it need to know it’s full of inaccuracies and misstatements and is plainly intended to intimidate churches and pastors and to sideline their voices during this election season.

World Mag: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008. They did so because it has been illegal for pastors to endorse candidates from the pulpit since Congress passed the Johnson Amendment in 1954. ADF legal counsel Erik Stanley said pastors should be able to apply “biblical teachings to all areas of life, including candidates and elections. The purpose [of this event] is to make sure that the pastor, and not the IRS, decides what is said from the pulpit.”

Examiner.com: Pastors took this move to prompt the IRS to enforce a 1954 tax code known as the Johnson Amendment proposed by the then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, charities and churches from making political endorsements. “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” was organized by the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom. The organization wants the IRS to press the matter so it can be decided in court. It believes the law violates the First Amendment by banning preachers from preaching politics from the pulpit. According to Fox News , Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the group said: “The purpose is to make sure that the pastor and not the IRS decides what is said from the pulpit. It is a head-on constitutional challenge.”

Lilly Fowler at the Christian Century (Religion News Service) (Oct. 7): New procedures for conducting church audits have been pending since 2009, which has left the IRS virtually impotent in conducting any kind of new investigations. The IRS did not respond to questions seeking comment. Despite the lack of manpower, organizations such as Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal ministry that first launched “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” in 2008, say they take the IRS restriction seriously — even as they disagree with it. “Every pastor and every church has the right to decide what their pastor preaches from the pulpit and to not have that dictated to them by the IRS,” said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, formerly the Alliance Defense Fund. | Report also at the Washington Post

Randall Lord at The Town Talk: According to Erick Stanley with the Alliance Defending Freedom, “The purpose is to make sure that the pastor — and not the IRS — decides what is said from the pulpit.” As a Libertarian candidate, I’m all for their liberties, too, religious and otherwise, but these pastors are misguided. | —Randall Lord of Shreveport is a Libertarian candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 4th District of Louisiana.

WTVR.com: When Ron Johnson takes take his pulpit on Sunday, he will willfully break the law. After presenting his views on President Barack Obama’s handling of religious issues — like abortion, gay marriage, and religious freedom – Johnson will ask his congregation a question. “In light of what I have presented,” Johnson says he will say, “How can you go into that election booth and vote for Barack Obama as president of the United States?” . . . “The IRS has the ability and the authority to regulate their sermons. We are giving them the opportunity to do that and if they challenge that, we will challenge that in court,” said Eric Stanley, Alliance Defending Freedom’s senior legal counsel. “It is all about creating a test case to find the Johnson amendment as unconstitutional.”

Reuters: “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” has been staged annually since 2008 by a group called the Alliance Defending Freedom. Its aim is to provoke a challenge from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in order to file a lawsuit and have its argument out in court. The event has grown steadily in size, but the IRS has yet to respond – even though the pastors tape their sermons and mail them to the agency . . . Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel of the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the group was not pushing any particular political agenda and participants came from both conservative and liberal churches . . . Stanley said that if the IRS continued to ignore the speeches, it could become clear it was not enforcing the ban and hand preachers the de facto right to do as they wish from the pulpit . . . But experts who spoke to Reuters said they do not expect the agency to move against Pulpit Freedom Sunday this year, chiefly because of the absence of a new audit procedure for churches.
“If the IRS wanted to get serious about this, there are already plenty of blatant violations they could pursue,” said Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based group that monitors and informs the IRS about tax-code violations

NewsMax: Baptist Pastor Mark Harris stood before his flock in North Carolina on Sunday and joined hundreds of other religious leaders in deliberately breaking the law in an election-year campaign that tests the role of churches in politics . . . Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel of the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the group was not pushing any particular political agenda and participants came from both conservative and liberal churches. However, the event in past years has tended to be dominated by evangelical fundamentalist churches and conservative causes such as opposition to abortion and gay-marriage. [more]

The Blaze (includes video): “Every pastor and every church has the right to decide what their pastor preaches from the pulpit and to not have that dictated to them by the IRS,” said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, formerly the Alliance Defense Fund. [...] Today’s parishioners, he said, are starving for religious leaders to act as “the moral compass of society.” [Pastor Jim Garlow] said he’s witnessed pastors who boldly speak on political issues receive standing ovations.

Fox News (Oct. 7): “The purpose is to make sure that the pastor — and not the IRS — decides what is said from the pulpit,” Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the group, told FoxNews.com. “It is a head-on constitutional challenge.” Stanley said pastors attending “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” will “preach sermons that will talk about the candidates running for office” and then “make a specific recommendation.” The sermons will be recorded and sent to the IRS. “We’re hoping the IRS will respond by doing what they have threatened,” he said. “We have to wait for it to be applied to a particular church or pastor so that we can challenge it in court. We don’t think it’s going to take long for a judge to strike this down as unconstitutional.”

Journal Gazette (Bloomberg Editorial View): “No pastor has been punished or threatened with punishment by the IRS for participating in Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” wrote Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative group backing the protest. And that, Stanley told FoxNews.com last week, is precisely the problem. “We’re hoping the IRS will respond by doing what they have threatened,” he said. “We have to wait for it to be applied to a particular church or pastor so that we can challenge it in court. “We don’t think it’s going to take long for a judge to strike this down as unconstitutional.” Stanley might be surprised. This is not a battle for free speech – in the pulpit or out.

The Town Talk (Oct. 7): That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom started Pulpit Freedom Sunday, to protect a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit without fearing government censorship or control,” the response letter states. “After all, it’s the job of the pastor and the church leadership not the IRS to decide what is said from the pulpit. No pastor should ever fear IRS censorship or punishment when he stands in the pulpit to preach.”

IBTimes.com: The Alliance Defending Freedom, formerly known as the Alliance Defense Fund, began organizing its “Pulpit Free Sunday” in 2008 in response to the IRS regulation. The ADF is a Christian legal ministry that specializes in taking cases where they believe “religious liberty” is at stake, most notably in defense of businesses or organizations that discriminate against gays and lesbians . . . “The IRS has the ability and authority to regulate their sermons. We are giving them the opportunity to do that and if they challenge that, we will challenge that in court,” Stanley told CNN. “It is all about creating a test case to find the Johnson amendment as unconstitutional.” . . . CNN reports ADF, which some critics have accused of being a Republican front group, was unable to put them in touch with a church that plans to endorse President Barack Obama this Sunday.

Kelly Phillips Erb at Forbes: So far, this election has been tame by comparison. That may change this weekend: this Sunday, October 7, marks “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.” The event, which is the brainchild of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Alliance Defending Freedom (previously called the Alliance Defense Fund), is a call for pastors to speak from the pulpit and to address specific candidates, issues and politics head on. The sermons will be taped and sent to the IRS – kind of like a big dare. ADF is not only hoping for but seeking a response from the IRS. The goal is to challenge a revocation of status in the courts as against freedom of speech and freedom of religion. [more]

TheTownTalk.com: The alliance responded with a letter, signed “Erik W. Stanley, Senior Legal Counsel,” which states that Americans United’s letter is “intended to intimidate churches and pastors into silence.” “That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom started Pulpit Freedom Sunday, to protect a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit without fearing government censorship or control,” the response letter states. “After all, it’s the job of the pastor and the church leadership not the IRS to decide what is said from the pulpit. No pastor should ever fear IRS censorship or punishment when he stands in the pulpit to preach.”

STLToday: About 1,400 ministers draw a line at their pulpits to bring down tax collector’s decree that penalizes churches daring to talk politics or endorse issues . . . “Every pastor and every church has the right to decide what their pastor preaches from the pulpit and to not have that dictated to them by the IRS,” said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, formerly the Alliance Defense Fund.