Cuccinelli in Church

Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was asked to addressed a breakfast meeting of the Virginia Christian Alliance (VCA) with the theme of “Christian Citizenship and Godly Government” on what pastors are allowed under the law to say from the pulpit. The group of nearly 300 was comprised of a number of Pastors from the African-American community who see the basic morality of the country in severe decline. As ministers, they have an obligation to lead their congregation, and that leadership includes pointing out the actions that are leading to the moral decay in America.

Specifically concerning do’s and don’t in the pulpit:

“You will be surprised to learn just how much freedom you have. You can speak to any issue in America, from the pulpit, full-throated, ears pinned back. You don’t have to hold back at all. Any issue at all. You can be critical of votes elected officials have taken on those issues. Now be careful, don’t cross the line into un-endorsing. Don’t say ‘we need to defeat this person’ while you’re standing there in the pulpit. But when you get down out of church you can hold fund-raisers, you can put your name on candidates, you can identify yourself as the pastor of thus and such church but it needs to say something like ‘for identification purposes only’. You never want to lead anyone to possibly believe that you’re, on behalf of a church, endorsing a candidate.”