The people are not on your side. Religion News Service reported this morning that 54 percent of Americans think pastors should not be allowed to endorse candidates from the pulpit without risking their 501c3 tax exemption, 40 percent thought clergy should be allowed to do so, and the remainder weren't sure. Just as remarkably, 39 percent strongly disapproved of endorsement and 22 percent strongly approved -- remember this if and when pastors claim the mantle of popular approval during the ADF-sponsored "Pulpit Initiative" this weekend.

What gets me about ADF's claim that pastors are somehow persecuted or denied freedom of speech by IRS regulations is that it's just not true. If clergy want to explicitly make their houses of worship part of a political machine, fine. But they are not entitled to a tax exemption for that. If there were no regulations of tax-exempt organizations' political activity, political groups would have a pretty strong incentive to just set themselves up as houses of worship. I seriously cannot imagine how any religious leader would think that's a good thing.