As was done in the 2004 presidential elections is it illegal to have political candidates give taped broadcast

Question

The problem I'm seeing is. The thin line many churches used to imply their message is now being crossed to the point they are yelling their message out loud and at all costs. This is basically making the statement that God supports our man. Which is the same as the Holy Roman Empire or many of these supposive Islamic States that are supposed to be so unstable and undemocratic. Where do you draw the line in saying this is your opinion and quit using the implication of God to support it.

Answer 1

I would say that a church could take about specific issues and even specific candidates as long as church funds are not used to support a party or candidate. Also if a Republican is allowed to address the congregation one week, the Democratic and all other major opponents should get the opprotunity in the next weeks. I have no problem with a church endorsing a candidate as long as they do not give free publicity in the form of addressing the congregation, gifts, or money to any campaign.

Answer 2

You don't even know what you're talking about. I'm a Christian Conservative Republican (Southern Baptist, to be exact) and I've been involved in several churches -- in fact for most of last year I worked at one. At the time of the 2004 election I was very active in my home church. No candidate was supported by the church nor did church money go to political parties. The pastor did urge everyone to vote, however. Never once have I heard a church support a particular candidate from the pulpit. In fact, last year when I was an administrative assistant to a Baptist minister, I saw him be very careful to avoid seeming like he supported any particular candidate from the pulpit. The only time this line was ever close to being blurred was during a vote on a gay marriage amendment in our state. We circulated flyers in the area urging voters to vote against this. This was issue based, however, and no candidate or organization was given any money by our church to further this agenda. Most churches I've been involved with go out of their way to avoid that murky ground of mixing politics and religion.