BY MICHAEL FOUST ©2012 Baptist Press
Conventional wisdom might hold that churches can never legally get involved in politics, but when it comes to issues–and specifically for 2012, ballot initiatives dealing with the definition of marriage–churches actually have wide latitude, says an attorney well-versed in IRS law.

Voters in up to five states this year will vote on the definition of marriage–North Carolina’s vote on May 8 is the first–and many churches already are involved, urging their members to stand up for the biblical definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman. Still, many churches are hesitant to speak up, fearful that doing so is a violation of IRS law and could endanger their tax-exempt status.

Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, says that pastors and congregations have nothing to fear. Under IRS law, churches cannot endorse candidates but they can lobby for specific legislation–here, ballot initiatives–provided that the time and money spent doing so is less than 5 percent of their overall operation and budget, Stanley said.

“I cannot foresee any situation where a church would come anywhere close to violating that prohibition,” Stanley told Baptist Press of the 5 percent limit. “Essentially, a church would have to devote itself almost wholeheartedly to lobbying efforts in order to be at risk.”

Stanley went one step further, saying that churches not only are allowed to take public stands on ballot initiatives, but they should do so. The Alliance Defense Fund (800-TELL-ADF) is a Christian legal group.

“Without the voice of the church, marriage as it stands between one man and one woman is going to be lost in these five states and others,” Stanley said. “This is just simply an area where churches don’t need to be afraid of the IRS. The IRS allows them to be involved”