July 2, 2004
My sisters
and brothers in Christ:
As we prepare to celebrate the 228th anniversary of the independence
of our beloved country, I am reminded of the gift of liberty that we have
received from so many throughout this nation’s history. Our prayer this weekend
should be for God's blessing upon our nation and his help to preserve these
liberties that have been won and preserved at such great cost.
I ask your
prayers, too, for the safety and the swift return home of all
the young men and women of our Armed Forces who are now serving
this country in places of danger around the world.
I particularly want to share with you today my grave concern regarding news
reports that the Bush-Cheney Reelection Campaign has asked its volunteers
in churches not only to distribute issue guides at church and persuade
their clergy to hold voter registration drives, but also to provide church
directories and membership lists.
I am alarmed by any suggestion of providing the names of church members to
any specific political group. I saw this request made by Dictator Fidel
Castro at the beginning of his regime and his persecution of churches
that refused. It was one of the first of his attempts to control the
country by force.
We also must be aware of the jeopardy that complying with such a request
could cause to our tax-exempt status as a religious institution. Please be
aware that according to IRS guidelines any religious organization is prohibited
from “directly or indirectly participating or intervening in any political
campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office”.
If a church member, with the knowledge of clergy and vestry, gives a membership
list to any political party or candidate, this could be considered as the
kind of partisan electioneering prohibited for a tax-exempt religious institution.
It is part of our responsibility as Christians to be good stewards of our
freedoms in this country. I encourage our congregations to participate
in the coming elections by hosting debates that are balanced, distributing
voter guides that are not partisan in content and sponsoring non-partisan
voter registration drives. But we must never show a preference for or
against certain candidate or party as a part of any church program.
I believe that no political party has the right to ask for the names and
addresses of our membership. This is a violation of the trust of our members,
who give us their names and addresses for use within the church family and
not to be given without permission to any outside group.
It is my duty as bishop of this diocese to warn you of the grave threat this
kind of request poses to the relationship of trust within our community of
faith, as well as to our legal status as a religious institution.
There can be no better way to honor our nation’s Independence Day than to
continue to be alert to preserve the freedom of religion guaranteed to us
by our Constitution.
Blessings,
The Rt. Rev. Leo Frade
Bishop of Southeast Florida
