Churchgoers may hear an additional message today from their pastors, priests or ministers: Vote.
Though federal law prohibits preaching on behalf or in opposition to a political candidate, church leaders can still preach about issues and encourage parishioners to vote.
“What we have done is encourage people to pray about their decisions and encourage them to vote,” said Mark Fleschner, a pastor at the First Church of the Nazarene.
Congress approved an amendment by Sen. Lyndon Johnson in 1954 to prohibit 501(c)(3) organizations, which include charities and churches, from engaging in any political campaign activity. While the ban has been strengthened over the years, the most recent change was in 1987 when language was amended to clarify that the prohibition also applies to statements opposing candidates, according to the Internal Revenue Service’s Web site.
The Rev. Ryan Berryhill, of First Southern Baptist Church in Terre Haute said he plans to remind his congregation to vote Tuesday because it’s their civic duty. However, preaching is bigger than politics, he said.
“Really and truly, our goal is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, not to make Republicans or Democrats,” he said. “I don’t take a public stand on a candidate, I’ll talk about an issue if it comes up, but I don’t make an effort to do a sermon about an issue that’s on the table.”
Federal law does not prohibit 501(c)(3) organizations from advocating for or against issues and, to a limited extent, ballot initiatives or other legislative activities, the IRS Web site stated. Should these organizations violate the law, they run the risk of losing their tax-exempt status.
Earlier this year, the IRS released its 2006 Political Activity Compliance Initiative, a report outlining investigated allegations of political campaign activity by these types of organizations. The IRS received 237 referrals and selected 100 — 44 churches and 56 nonchurches — for examination, according to the Web site.
In 2004, 110 cases were selected for examination, which resulted in 69 written advisories, five organizations losing their tax-exempt status and a proposed revocation of status for two other groups.
This law isn’t an issue for the Rev. David Smith of Greenwood Baptist Church, who said if pastors did a better job of preaching the Bible, there wouldn’t be too many problems.
“I wasn’t called to be talking about politics, I was called to preach the Gospel, so that’s what I keep it to,” he said, noting that he will tell his parishioners his personal opinion outside of church if they ask and want to talk about it. “… I just don’t see anywhere biblical where we’re supposed to talk about one candidate or another because we know how we believe, it’s each voter’s responsibility to check the candidates out and then compare them to the Bible and then they’ll know how to vote.”
Pastor Jeffrey Harpole of New Life Fellowship echoed those sentiments, stating it’s not hard for a pastor to stay out of politics as long as he or she remains focused on the Bible.
“… We have both Democrats and Republicans at our church, we have union workers and we have non-union workers. We have a wide variety of people, and so I don’t tell them how to vote, but I have no compulsion to withhold the Scriptural concepts,” he said. “I don’t just do that at election time, I do it throughout the year because I preach the whole Bible. It’s not an election sermon.”
Harpole ran as a Republican for an at-large seat on the Vigo County Council during the primaries but was defeated. Still, he said there wasn’t a conflict with his job and running for the position because the seat wasn’t based on moralities, but budgeting.
“… I think the worse thing we can do is remove ourselves from the political scene,” Harpole said, noting that people with integrity and budget knowledge need to be in those positions.
While Smith said he’s also encouraging his congregation to vote, he has been spending a lot of time “trying to calm people’s fears over Wall Street” because some of his parishioners are losing many things.
“God gives us a word from the Bible of what we should be preaching about,” Smith said, “and I don’t see John McCain or Barack Obama, neither one of their names in the Bible.
Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.
Election 2008
November 1, 2008
Message from the pulpit: Go vote
- Election 2008
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Vigo County election results
More than 44,000 ballots were cast Tuesday of the nearly 80,000 registered voters, giving Vigo County a 55.76 percent voter turnout. Voters who cast provisional ballots have until noon Nov. 14 to show proper identification in the clerk’s office. Members of the Election Board will certify the results by the end of Nov. 14.
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Obama triumphs, will be first black U.S. president
Barack Obama swept to victory as the nation’s first black president Tuesday night in an electoral college landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. “Change has come,” he told a huge throng of jubilant supporters.
- Ellsworth downs Goode in District 8 In a strong Democratic election year, U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth was re-elected Tuesday to a second term as the 8th District congressman representing southwestern and western Indiana.
- House District 44: Former Greencastle major wins A former Greencastle mayor will head off to the Statehouse come January, and she said Tuesday night she’s ready to go.
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YOUTH VOTE: Sarah Scott students elect Obama, Daniels
Tribune-Star
Students and staff at Sarah Scott Middle School voted to make Barack Obama president and Mitch Daniels governor during a mock election Tuesday. - Vigo picks presidential winner again Vigo County voters chose Democrat Sen. Barack Obama as president, maintaining its status as a “bellwether” county, picking the winner in every presidential election since 1892 with only two exceptions.
- Harrison Township opts to keep assessor Voters in eight precincts in Harrison Township opted to retain a township assessor under a referendum vote on Tuesday’s election ballot. That’s was good news to Mick Love, who will retain his elected seat as Harrison Township assessor. The final tally on Public Question No. 1 was 6,587 for a “yes,” which would remove the office, to 9,506 for “no” which would retain the office.
- House District 46: Tincher pulls out win The race between Democrat incumbent Rep. Vern Tincher and Republican challenger Bob Heaton for the Indiana House District 46 seat went down to the wire Tuesday night, with Tincher pulling out a win.
- Republican Daniels wins 2nd term as Indiana governor Republican Mitch Daniels defeated former Democratic congresswoman Jill Long Thompson on Tuesday to win a second term as governor, but he may need a supply of olive branches to advance his agenda if Democrats retain control of the Indiana House.
- House District 45: Borders wins close race The Indiana House District 45 race between incumbent Republican Bruce Borders and Democrat Rick Marshall was too close to call for much of the evening Tuesday, with the final outcome apparent near midnight.
- House District 43: Kersey remains in seat Rep. Clyde Kersey, D-Terre Haute, will remain in the Indiana General Assembly for another two years, as the 12-year incumbent defeated Republican challenger Ryan Cummins for the House District 43 seat.
- Clay County's turnout one for record books Clay County’s voter turnout was one for the record books, officials said Tuesday evening.
- Parke County incumbents retain their seats Parke County incumbents retained their seats in Tuesday’s election. Republican County At-large Councilmen Dale Gerrish and John Pratt will be joined by fellow Republican J.B. Butler, a newcomer who received more votes than Gerrish and Pratt. The three GOP candidates won over the three Democrats in that race.
- Nearly 64 percent of registered Vermillion voters cast ballots Vermillion County voters turned out in big numbers Tuesday to hand victories to Democrats up and down the ballot. Nearly 64 percent of registered voters turned out in the mostly rural county, which includes the towns of Clinton and Newport.
- Sullivan County votes Repbulican in national election For the second time in its traditionally Democratic history, Sullivan County voted Republican in the national election. Overall, Democrats saw unexpected upsets, incumbent Republicans lost a few offices, and voter turnout here was exceptionally high, as expected.
- Indiana State students await impact of their votes Ashley Roce sat in the Cunningham Memorial Library eating pizza with her friends, waiting to see the impact of her first vote in a presidential election.
- Indiana transplants watch from east coast Indiana has done what couldn’t have been predicted in 2004: It has gone Blue — and by so doing, the Hoosier state has broken its 44-year tradition of being a Red state, and helped put a Democrat in the White House.
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Voter turnout in Clark County, Ill., highest it's ever been
Voter turnout in Clark County, Ill., was the largest it has ever been, but it wasn’t as high as County Clerk Bill Downey had hoped for.
- Presidential election turnout down in Edgar County Despite an increase in registered voters for Tuesday’s election, turnout was lower than the last presidential election in Edgar County, Ill.
- Incumbents easily win school board seats Three Vigo County School Board incumbents readily won re-election Tuesday. In District 1, Mel Burks and Jackie Lower retained their seats, defeating Larry Faulkner. In unofficial results, Lower had 24,321 votes, Burks, 19,253, and Faulkner, 11,383.
- Democratic Commissioner Mason gets another four years Vigo County voters on Tuesday returned Democratic Commissioner Paul Mason for an additional four-year term as one of the county’s top executive officials.
- Rader wins Vigo judge Superior Court Divisioin 5 The winner of Vigo County judge for Superior Court Division 5 is Dr. Michael Rader. With 23,636 votes, or 56 percent, Rader defeated Republican challenger Dan Kelly, who earned 18,216 votes, or 44 percent. Totals are unofficial results from the Vigo County Election office.
- Allsup defeats Royer in Vigo Recorder race In a night that was friendly to Democrats, Nancy Allsup won the office of Vigo County Recorder, defeating Republican Bruce Royer. Allsup, with 26,486 votes, or 65 percent, celebrated her victory Tuesday night with friends and family at the Paradise Pavilion in West Terre Haute.
- Mansard wins another term as Vigo County clerk Democrat Patricia “Pat” Mansard has won another term as Vigo County clerk. Mansard, who has served as county clerk for 20 years, was busily working Tuesday night to finish up election results, but she took a minute to savor her win.
- FINAL: VIGO COUNTY ELECTION 2008 RESULTS Final election night results from Vigo County
- FINAL: VERMILLION COUNTY ELECTION RESULTS 2008 Election results from Vermillion County
- FINAL: CLAY COUNTY ELECTION 2008 RESULTS Election results from across Clay County
- FINAL: PARKE COUNTY ELECTION 2008 RESULTS Election results from Parke County
- FINAL: SULLIVAN COUNTY ELECTION RESULTS 2008 Results from Sullivan County
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NEW: Vigo County’s election record cited by Karl Rove
Karl Rove, the man credited with orchestrating President George W. Bush’s two successful campaigns for the presidency, reportedly singled out Vigo County as a place to watch tonight when election returns start coming in.
- More Election 2008 Headlines
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