Polls: Most people oppose pastors endorsing candidates

Most Americans think that the Rev. Jody Hice of Bethlehem First Baptist Church and 30 other pastors were wrong when they endorsed presidential candidates from their pulpits Sept. 28.

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CHRISTOPHER QUINN/cquinn@ajc.com

The Rev. Joey Hice of Bethlehem First Baptist Church urged his congregation to vote for John McCain.

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A Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life poll conducted in August shows 66 percent of Americans believe pastors ought not do that.

Hice spoke that morning about his view of Christian values as they relate to abortion and gay marriage, and told his congregation they should vote for U.S. Sen. John McCain. It was part of an organized effort by a conservative Christian legal organization to challenge an Internal Revenue Service regulation that says nonprofits can lose their tax-exempt status if they participate in partisan politics.

LifeWay Research, a nonprofit associated with the Southern Baptist Convention, in June also conducted a poll on the subject. Their findings showed 85 percent of Americans disagreed with pastors making endorsements from pulpits.

“These are numbers that are hard to look at and not say, this is an overwhelming majority of Americans of almost every stripe,” said Ed Stetzer, the director at LifeWay Research.

The survey was not limited to Baptists.

“There is a long-standing and publicly affirmed view that the pulpit is not the place for politics, particularly endorsements,” he said.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington filed six complaints with the IRS, including one about Bethlehem First Baptist, which is near Athens, about the churches that made the endorsements.

An IRS spokesman said before Sept. 28. they were aware of and monitoring the situation. He said Monday that the IRS cannot confirm or talk about whether investigations have been launched.

Hice was not at his church Monday morning and was unavailable for comment.