Can a Cedar Rapids pastor endorse school board candidates?

This story was updated Oct. 30, 2023, with information about a source’s campaign affiliation.

Can a pastor endorse school board candidates on social media without his church losing tax-exempt status?

What about a plug from the pulpit or a nod in a church newsletter?

Are churches allowed to host campaign events?

In Iowa, as the Nov. 7 local elections and the January presidential caucuses near — and as candidates in many races campaign on social issues — the role of endorsements by churches and pastors make these questions more relevant, and have led to a local complaint filed with the IRS.

“What is the line between personal speech and speech as the leader of an organization?” asked Jacob Neiheisel, an associate professor of political science at the University of Buffalo, in New York, who specializes in religion and politics.

The IRS prohibits charitable groups with a 501(c)(3) status from “participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.” These groups, including churches, also can’t make statements “in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.”

“Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes,” the IRS notes online.

Groups with 501(c)(3) status don’t have to pay income taxes and they also may be exempt from property or sales tax.

“The idea is that if you’re going to receive the benefits from the state you need to not engage in activities that could further benefit your cause,” Neiheisel said about the prohibition against political activity by tax-exempt groups.

Social media endorsements

When a Cedar Rapids pastor endorsed Linn-Mar school board candidates on social media, Dustin Brooks, 37, of Marion, wondered how this could happen without the church losing its tax-exempt status.

“When you have a group not paying taxes at any level, yet they are endorsing candidates who will have influence over what the money is being used for, that's what lit my fire a little bit,” said Brooks.

The business executive serves on Linn-Mar’s Diversity and Equity Committee and has children who will go to Linn-Mar. He also is committee chairman for Katie Lowe Lancaster, a Linn-Mar school board candidate.

Jeremy Higgins, pastor and president of Calvary Community Church, at 327 35th St. NE, posted Oct. 3 on his personal Facebook page, where he has more than 4,900 followers, endorsements of Tom Law and Kevin Slaman, both running for the Linn-Mar Community School District board.

“Tom Law is another man y’all need to get familiar with! He loves and fears God, is very conservative and will fight for the kids in our community! VOTE FOR TOM LAW for Linn-Mar School Board!” Higgins wrote.

The 116,000 followers of Higgins’ personal Instagram account might have seen a video he posted this fall of an interview with Matt Rollinger, a Linn-Mar school board member. Before and after that video is a graphic that says “Vote — Nov. 7 Law, Slaman, Treharne and Steffeck.”

The video no longer is available on Instagram.

The Gazette left a phone message for Higgins at the church Wednesday and sent an email Thursday, but he did not reply.

(The video below was captured from Higgins’ personal Instagram page, and the recording was embedded here.)

Is it a violation?

When asked whether Higgins’ endorsements could jeopardize Calvary’s tax-exempt status, two political science professors said probably not.

“In my reading, it would not violate 501(c)(3) rules,” said Amy Erica Smith, an associate professor of political science at Iowa State University. Smith also is a member of the Ames School Board.

Neiheisel agreed.

“My understanding of the guidelines is that if it's in a context it could be construed as speaking for the organization, it does start to look like a violation,” he said. “Where it gets gray to permissible is a personal page or a quote to a newspaper. That's not them doing that in an official capacity. This one might be in the clear.”

The video pushes the boundaries, Neiheisel said. It appears Higgins is in Calvary Church — a tax-exempt property — and tells viewers he’s the pastor. “If you're on church grounds, acting in official capacity, that starts to look a little different,” Neiheisel said.

If a pastor gave a sermon advocating for one candidate or told congregation members not to vote for another, that likely would violate IRS rules, Neiheisel said. An endorsement in a newsletter sent to all church members also likely would be a violation, he said.

How often are laws enforced?

The reality is the IRS does very little enforcement of regulations prohibiting political activity by tax-exempt organizations — even when there is a clear violation, Smith and Neiheisel said.

Last November, a Fort Worth, Texas, pastor endorsed two political candidates from the pulpit and asked other pastors to do the same, the Star-Telegram reported.

“And if there’s any pastors that are watching or watch the livestream, what you’re really talking about is the potential of losing your 501(c)(3),” Pastor Landon Schott said during his Sunday sermon, according to the newspaper. “Big whoop.”

The Gazette asked the IRS whether social media endorsements by pastors would fall into the ban on political activity for tax-exempt groups, but the agency did not answer that question. The IRS also did not respond to questions about how many complaints are filed in a year under these guidelines and how often the agency investigates.

Brooks filed a complaint about Higgins’s endorsements to the IRS, but has not yet heard back.

“I know it happens on both sides of the political spectrum,” Brooks said. “I don't care if it's left wing or right wing. If an organization is not paying taxes and they are getting involved in politics, they should lose their exemption.”

Which churches are most active in politics?

One of the few cases of the IRS stripping a church’s tax-exempt status over political speech was in 1995. In that case, the Church at Pierce Creek in Vestal, N.Y., purchased ads in USA Today and the Washington Times four days before the 1992 presidential election and warned Christians not to vote for Bill Clinton.

When a federal judge upheld the decision, he said:

''In the circumstances presented here — where a tax-exempt church bought an advertisement that stated its opposition to a particular candidate for public office, attributed the advertisement to the church and solicited tax-deductible contributions for the advertisement — the I.R.S. was justified in revoking the tax-exempt status.“

Evangelical churches have been more outspoken about politics since 2015, when then-candidate Donald Trump was campaigning for president. But Black Protestant churches and Catholic churches historically have been more involved in politics, Neiheisel said.

“The most common activity would be something like a non-partisan voter-registration drive,” he said.

Plenty of churches also have hosted Democratic candidates. President Joe Biden spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta in January. Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang sang with a Baptist choir in Waterloo in 2020.

Comments: (319) 339-3157; [email protected]