I’m not sure if it is against any campaign laws for a church to endorse a candidate. We have often heard of different churches getting involved with politics at the pulpit. When Thune was running against Daschle many Catholics had complained to me that priests were endorsing Thune from the pulpit because he was Anti-Choice. I’m a big believer of separation of church and state. What does the Bible say? Well it is a bit cloudy;
“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” – Romans 13; 1-2
But I’m also a big believer of the 1st Amendment and the right of anyone to speak their mind. If a pastor wants to endorse Paul personally that is his right. But can he really do it from the pulpit or from the church’s FB page?
But is this situation different because of the non-profit status of churches?
As you can see, Paul’s charity organization, TenFold (Dutch Mafia) gave a substantial amount of money in 2016 to his church. Of course at that time, he hadn’t announced he was running for mayor, even though there was rumors about it. FULL IRS DOC:Â Church-IRS-2016
So legal beagles, is this questionable?