Brent Walker on ADF's Threat to IRS Regulations
An AP story over the weekend picked up on the news that the Alliance Defense Fund is actively recruiting pastors to violate their churches' tax-exempt prohibition on electioneering. Baptist Joint Committee Director Brent Walker is quoted on one important, often overlooked element of the equation: the harm to religious integrity in such a breach:
Some religious groups support keeping politics out of the pulpit.J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington, which advocates for religious freedom, said churches should be involved in public issues, but partisan activity can "compromise the essential calling to spread the Gospel."
"The church can't raise prophetic fist at a candidate or at a party," Walker said, "when it's locked up in a tight bear hug with that candidate or party."