There are efforts by some groups to silence churches so that they would not even be allowed to discuss political issues. Churches can and should discuss all issues, particularly those moral or regulatory issues that might affect the Church. It is easy to conduct voter registration drives, hold issue forums, pray about public issues and for government leaders, and preach on what the Bible says about today s issues without ever coming close to violating the government s charity tax laws. Losing state and federal tax-exempt status is the worst that can happen to those churches that do endorse candidates and campaign for them. Forcing churches to be silent in times of national crisis is to silence the very leaders and teachers that our nation should follow.
Organizations have a lot of leeway when it comes to supporting or opposing legislation, too.
They can allow lobbyist groups to use their facilities to discuss social issues. They can preach sermons on social issues, political issues, and activism. Organizations can run petition drives supporting or opposing legislation and even lobby candidates to support or oppose legislation. Even with the restrictions imposed on organizations they can ban together as a unit to affect positive change in society through the legislative process. ALEC is a national research body for elected officials.