A May 19, 2010, article from USA Today with Gregory Erlandson and Matthew Bunson, co-authors of a May 2010 book, “Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal.”

Read a Nov. 4, 2012, NBCNews.com article that found that 1,600 pastors across the U.S. violated the long-standing ban on political endorsement by churches in October of 2012.

Read a Jan. 14, 2008, Las Vegas Review-Journal article about a pastor’s backing of Obama during a worship service at the Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ. The comments prompted Americans United for Separation of Church and State to request an IRS investigation of the church.

Read a Jan. 20, 2008, Associated Press story about Houston megachurch pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell’s endorsement of Obama. The story appeared in the Houston Chronicle.

Read a Feb. 14, 2008, Los Angeles Times story about the IRS examining a California clergyman’s use of church letterhead to endorse Huckabee. According to the article, when it became public that Americans United for Separation of Church and State was asking the IRS to investigate, the pastor, Wiley S. Drake, encouraged supporters to pray […]

Read a Nov. 2, 2012 PBS article about one church leaders’ fight against the IRS’ prohibition of religious endorsement of political candidates.

Read a Sept 24, 2008 LifeWay research report on how the U.S. public feels about political endorsements by religious leaders. When U.S. citizens were posed the statement “I believe it is appropriate for churches to publicly endorse candidates for public office,” 59 percent of participants strongly disagreed.

Raymond Flynn is chairman of the Catholic Alliance, a former mayor of Boston and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. His group supported the “Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005.”

Shirl James Hoffman is professor emeritus of kinesiology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He wrote the Jan. 29, 2010, Christianity Today cover story “Sports Fanatics,” and he has a book, Good Game: Christianity and the Culture of Sports.