From Branch Ministries to Selma: Why the Internal Revenue Service Should Strictly Enforce the Section 501(C)(3) Prohibition Against Church Electioneering

Authors

Sarah Hawkins

Abstract

On Sunday, March 4, 2007, congregations in African American churches in Selma, Alabama, commemorated the forty-second anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," the 1965 Selma voting-rights march. Celebrating with them were Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, both candidates in the 2008 presidential election. Despite federal regulations prohibiting §501(3) nonprofit religious organizations from engaging in partisan political activities, Senators Clinton and Obama each made a campaign stop at prominent African American churches, delivering sermon-like speeches during Sunday services.

Citation

Sarah Hawkins, From Branch Ministries to Selma: Why the Internal Revenue Service Should Strictly Enforce the Section 501(C)(3) Prohibition Against Church Electioneering, 71 Law and Contemporary Problems 185-204 (2008)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol71/iss2/15