The Rev. L.K. Floyd believes church leaders should have the liberty to speak to their congregations and support certain political candidates, especially when it comes to improving their communities.
Floyd, pastor at Heart Changers Baptist Church in Silver Spring, said Friday some people may believe that allowing that only helps evangelical Christians, pointing to white evangelicals like the late Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. who established the Moral Majority in 1979 as a political organization pushing a “pro-family” agenda.
“Not allowing the Black church, in particular, to be able to speak from the pulpit their political views, and also to be able to endorse their candidates and focus and support their agendas, I believe would be dangerous and problematic,” Floyd said. “When there is something that is unjust … we must speak truth to power.”
Now, the Internal Revenue Service agrees.
In a proposed settlement filed last week, the IRS agreed that churches and other houses of worship should be allowed to formally endorse political candidate without endangering their nonprofit status under the tax code.
