Family Life

10.08.12 | Sarah Harnisch

Pulpit Freedom Sunday was a stunning success this year, with over 15-hundred pastors taking part from all 50 states. That's triple 2011's record. They were defying an IRS order under the Johnson Amendment; and could loose their tax exempt status. The Reverend Jim Garlow is the National Chairman of Pulpit Freedom Sunday. He said "the way I said it is no follower of Jesus Christ is going to want to vote for a person who violates bibilical principles; tearing up babies in the womb, destroyed the definition of marriage. Who would want to vote for someone who is doing that? For that very reason, I am voting for Mitt Romney." "Pastors should decide what they preach from the pulpit, not the IRS," Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley said in the statement. "It's outrageous for pastors and churches to be threatened or punished by the government for applying biblical teachings to all areas of life, including candidates and elections. The question is, 'Who should decide the content of sermons: pastors or the IRS?'"

A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center last year showed that two in three Americans are against churches endorsing one candidate over another. LifeWay Research also found in a recent survey that 87 percent of pastors are not for endorsing candidates from the pulpit. However, a national phone survey conducted by ADF and LifeWay Research with 1,000 randomly drawn senior pastors found that nearly nine out of 10 Protestant pastors believe that the government should not regulate their sermons.