[Marie2]

The standard has always been, pastors/churches can advocate for issues, but not for individual candidates.

The standard was challenged, but survived the challenge.

Of course you can skip non-profit status and then advocate for candidates as you please, IMO.

[muawiyah]

That won’t stop the harpies. There are numerous ways to use the tax code to harrass people.

[OneVike]

Regardless of what was said to be ok. No where in the constitution does it give the government the right to limit free speech. When the government says you cannot speak out on anything or anyone then it is violating the 1st amendment right to free speech.

Remember, the Bill of Rights was adopted to limit the governments control over the people. It is not a document that tells us what we can do, but what the government cannot do!

[c-b 1]

The standard has always been, pastors/churches can advocate for issues, but not for individual candidates.

It hasn't always been that way, LBJ got laws passed to limit pastors ability to advocate for candidates, in the 50s.

A Church still has tax exempt status, if they are not a 501 C 3, corporation of the State.

[Brookhaven]

“The standard has always been, pastors/churches can advocate for issues, but not for individual candidates.

The standard was challenged, but survived the challenge.

Of course you can skip non-profit status and then advocate for candidates as you please, IMO.”

The standard is wrong, because the government has no constitutional power to limit political speech, by individuals or groups. In fact they are specificly prohibited from doing so by the 1st amendment.

The government uses the tax code to circumvent the Constitution and do something the Constitiution prohibits: limit free speech. They punish groups that exercise their political free speech rights by taking away their money.

Remember, it was Lyndon Johnson that instituted the non-profit/no-politics rule (long after 1913 when the income tax came into being.) He did it to punish/silence some churches that opposed him in elections in Texas.

There is nothing sacred about this rule. It should go away.