Should government regulate Sunday morning sermons about political candidates? Most Protestant pastors don’t think so. A survey shows they want the
According to LifeWay Research, nearly nine out of 10 Protestant senior pastors believe government should not regulate sermons.
“The survey confirmed what pastors of nearly every persuasion have told us for years: They don’t want the IRS or any other governmental agency to censor what they say from their pulpits,” said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley.
The ADF co-conducted the survey and encourages pastors to live without fear of punishment or penalty by the government and decide for themselves what they will sermonize about. Pastors from more than 475 churches nationwide planned to preach sermons recently presenting biblical perspectives on the positions of electoral candidates.
According to Stanley, they were exercising their constitutionally protected right to free religious expression, despite a problematic Internal Revenue Service rule that activist groups often use to try to silence churches.
