OPINION: Pols don't belong in pulpits

The Rev. Thomas W. Goodhue is executive director of the Long Island Council of Churches.

Last Monday, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Delaware challenged her opponent to show where the Constitution requires separation of church and state - and seemed surprised when he quoted the First Amendment. Many in the audience gasped at her apparent ignorance and then burst into laughter. In an election year, however, many preachers and politicians act as if they had never heard of either the First Amendment or the laws that prohibit politicking in houses of worship.

Carl Paladino raised a ruckus with a homophobic comment, but few people seem to have noticed how inappropriate the venue of his speech was. What was a candidate doing speaking in a synagogue, reading a speech written by rabbis calling for taxpayers to subsidize yeshivas? Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo was accepting an endorsement by a pastor in Brooklyn - in the middle of a worship service. Politicians can worship wherever they wish and preachers can support whomever they choose, but endorsing a candidate from the pulpit was wrong.

The separation of church and state, or synagogue and state, protects the people from religious leaders meddling inappropriately in politics, and it protects us from interdenominational warfare. Rabbi Yehuda Levin claimed, in the speech that Paladino read in Brooklyn, that it was constitutional for the state to pay tuition at a yeshiva, but this is far from a settled matter of law. While there are some expenses that the state can pay in a parochial school, it is incredibly difficult to construct subsidies that do not entangle government in religious institutions. Would Rabbi Levin want his taxes to pay for kids to attend a Jews for Jesus yeshiva? Do Reform Jews want their taxes to subsidize ultra-Orthodox schools that condemn Conservative and Reform Judaism?

Politicians from both sides of the aisle try to draw religious leaders into political activities that are at least unwise and probably illegal. Two years ago, for example, a staffer for a congressional candidate asked me to line up speaking engagements in local churches before the election. Last month, the publicist for another congressional candidate asked the Council of Churches to invite clergy to a "meet and greet" with the candidate.

In both cases I said no and pointed out that this might be illegal. Both offenders - one a Democrat and one a Republican - expressed shock that nonprofit organizations and houses of worship were barred from partisan politicking. One tried to justify his request by saying what a good guy his boss was. The other claimed it was OK for the Council to support her candidate because he wanted to outlaw abortion. She seemed stunned when I told her that not all Christians agree on this issue - or almost any other, for that matter.

The laws governing elections and not-for-profit leaders are clear, and campaigning in a house of worship clearly crosses the line. Congregations and religious leaders can and should advocate public policies that reflect their values and commitment to social justice, but they cannot legally endorse candidates from the pulpit or in congregational newsletters.

The IRS, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the Long Island Council of Churches have all published detailed guides to interpret the law. Houses of worship should not distribute campaign information that favors one party or candidate, even if the office-seeker is a member of the congregation. They may not legally post signs on their property that favor or oppose any party or candidate, or give membership lists to campaigns. They may not invite a candidate to speak during an election season - either in worship or at another time during the week - without providing a comparable opportunity to the opponents. The fact that this law is enforced only sporadically does not make it a good idea to violate it.

Doing any of these things puts a congregation's tax exemption at risk and alienates people who respect the law. Even some things that may possibly be legal, such as inviting elected officials to preach (as opposed to politick) during their campaign, or giving a candidate an award shortly before an election, are still bad ideas. My writing a speech for a pol would be really dumb, even if it never occurred to Congress to pass a law against it.

Doing any of these things also leads religious leaders into the delusion that God has told us which candidate to support. As a Christian, I am supposed to remember that I'm a fallible creature who sometimes gets it wrong. After all, I once supported Richard Nixon. And I thought Gary Hart would make a fine president.

Tax law and the First Amendment can protect us from our own hubris.