Don't preach your politics on me

In February, I drove out to Pasadena, Calif., to visit All Saints, a large Episcopal church not far from Colorado Boulevard. Call it church-state tourism; I knew that All Saints had run afoul of George W. Bush's Internal Revenue Service for some antiwar preaching. I wanted to case the joint.

Nice place! They operate an outdoor bazaar in between services - it never rains in Southern California - and I bought some Zatoun soap, the proceeds whereof will supposedly plant trees in Palestine. I forswore the temptation to buy a DVD of my colleague James Carroll talking about his new book, because it is true what the Bible says: The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. (James 4:5.)

I know what you are thinking: Typical of the Bush administration to use the IRS to muzzle dissenters. But this is a thornier issue. Starting a few years ago, the IRS launched investigations of dozens of churches across the ideological spectrum for preaching politics from the pulpit. The IRS code grants churches (and universities, and nonprofit hospitals, etc.) a tax exemption to encourage donations to charitable and spiritual institutions. If you want to endorse a candidate or political party, that's fine. Don't ask the US taxpayer to subsidize you.

The crackdown has proved extremely unpopular. Back in 2005, the conservative National Association of Evangelicals rallied to All Saints' defense. In 2007 the head of Southern California's Islamic Center voiced support for the Episcopalians. Now a conservative legal group, the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, is raising the stakes. Tomorrow, under the auspices of the ADF-organized Pulpit Initiative, about 30 pastors have agreed to endorse a political candidate from the pulpit, a collective act of civil disobedience intended to challenge the tax code.

The ADF makes a compelling argument: The IRS code "violates the Free Speech Clause [of the First Amendment] because it requires the government to discriminate against speech based solely on the content of the speech." Then, as lawyers like to say, the ADF takes a second bite at the apple, invoking a second provision of the First Amendment - the separation of church and state - to argue that government has no business interfering with religion.

You'd have to be pretty naive to think that churches don't engage in politics. African-American congregations often look to their ministers for guidance in the voting booth, and ministers can be swayed by donations toward a new roof, and so on. Many Christian fundamentalist ministries don't even pretend to be neutral in political dialogues, as long as the Democratic Party supports abortion rights. That's a strong argument for the ADF: Let's stop the hypocrisy.

I know I disagree with the Pulpit Initiative . . . but why? To be fair to the IRS (!), they haven't busted anyone for pulpit politicking since 1995, when they yanked the tax-exemption of a church that took out a full-page ad in USA Today condemning President Bill Clinton. The Service claims its letters and investigations are "educational," and merely intended to remind churches of the ground rules during election season.

The ADF's Erik Stanley, who is heading up the Pulpit Initiative, allows that the IRS "has done their best to fuzz the line" on this hot-button topic. Even after the IRS backed off its threats against All Saints, its rector said his congregation had "no more guidance about the IRS rules now than when we started this process."

Where is the law, you ask? The law is all over the lot. In a famous Supreme Court decision, the justices ruled against the use of peyote in a Native American ritual. At the time, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote that "No right is absolute, and that includes rights of speech, assembly, and religious freedom." I'm with her. I like the fuzzy line, I like the status quo. To paraphrase yet another great Arizonan, Barry Goldwater: Moderation in defense of religious freedom is no vice.

Alex Beam is a Globe Columnist. His e-dress is beam@globe.com.