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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Hi all, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">I’ve been getting great emails asking what we can and can’t do in term of partisan support, especially given recent executive orders.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Here’s what I know about churches and political endorsements- including supporting or promoting candidate functions/events through church channels.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white">The Johnson Amendment is a 1954 provision in the U.S. tax code that prohibits all 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white">On May 4, 2017, Trump signed the "Presidential Executive Order Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty, an executive order which does not repeal the Johnson
Amendment, nor does it allow ministers to endorse from the pulpit, but it does direct the </span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white">Department of Treasury<span style="color:#222222"> that "churches should not be found guilty of implied
endorsements where secular organizations would not be."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white">Which means we are still at risk of losing our tax-exempt status if we use the church, or the church’s resources, to promote one candidate over another.<br>
<br>
It breaks down to this- we really can’t do it without serious risk to our not-for-profit status, so it is safer not to ever use church channels or resources to promote or support a specific political candidate.<br>
<br>
We’ve deliberately kept lekooks as the “unofficial social only” message board of LCUUC, which means it might be taken as the church taking a position, or it might not- but it is really really risky and I wouldn’t suggest using it to promote any specific candidate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white">Thank you all so much for getting involved and doing the work of justice. We will keep finding ways to get the message out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white">Warmly,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white">Rev. Amy</span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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