Our sometimes allies at the Alliance Defense Fund have announced they are teeing up a major – and controversial – challenge to the laws which prohibit rabbis, pastors and other clergy from endorsing political candidates from the pulpit. The ADF is recruiting clergy to deliberately issue such endorsements and then sue the IRS in court challenging the laws and regulations as a violation of the clergy’s free speech.

When a legislative effort has been pursued in recent years to reverse this legal regime, the Orthodox Union has opposed the change and
defended the non-endorsement rules.

While we favor robust engagement in politics by religious leaders, institutions and citizens we think turning pulpits into explicit political soapboxes is dangerous.

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