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Advocacy Blog
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
While Candidates Publicize their Personal Religious Journeys, Faith Groups More Careful to Discuss Candidates
Religious oriented nonprofits and churches are sure to take heed of the similar headlines appearing in the press, such as, "Religion, politics go hand-in-hand in '08 race,". In light of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Political Activities Compliance Initiate (PACI) and its latest report on the 2006 cases, many groups may feel pulled in opposite directions. A ban on political activity by charities and churches becomes compounded when presidential candidates increasingly open up about their faith as a matter of importance to the public, and as a tool that guides them on views on policy and government.
The evangelical group Sojourners sponsored a candidate forum Faith, Values, and Poverty where candidates John Edwards, and Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) spoke of their personal faith. The New York Times covered this event and how it has now become crucial for candidates to discuss faith and reach out to religious communities. "Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have hired strategists to focus on reaching religious voters. Obama's campaign holds a weekly conference call with key supporters in early primary and caucus states whose role is to spread the candidate's message to religious leaders and opinionmakers and report their concerns to the campaign."
Posted by Amanda Adams
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