Erik Stanley on Clergy & Free Speech
Date: June 27th, 2010

Do clergy have the legal right to speak freely about political issues and candidates from the pulpit?  Erik Stanley, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), discusses this issue and the ADF’s Pulpit Initiative with host Tony Gill.  Stanley details how the prohibition on clergy free speech dates back to 1954 when then-Senator Lyndon Johnson proposed a little-known amendment to a tax overhaul bill that prevented non-profit organizations from engaging in direct political endorsements of candidates.  Stanley then discusses how this policy is being challenged through the Pulpit Initiative and Pulpit Freedom Sundays.  The first Pulpit Freedom Sunday was held in September, 2008 and involved several ministers directly engaging in political speech during their sermon as a means of testing the Johnson Amendment.  The discussion revolves around general free speech and religious liberty concerns.

RELATED LINKS

Alliance Defense Fund website.

Pulpit Initiative website.

IRS statement on Johnson Amendment.

First Amendment to the US Constitution


8 Responses to “Erik Stanley on Clergy & Free Speech”

  1. […] podcast discusses the Pulpit Initiative in-depth and Professor Gill did a great job of discussing many of the important issues surrounding the Pulpit […]

  2. […] non-resident scholar at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religon. … The podcast discusses the Pulpit Initiative in-depth and Professor Gill did a great job of discussing many of the important issues surrounding the […]

  3. […] Erik Stanley on Clergy & Free Speech […]

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