Pastors or other church leaders could use their pulpits to endorse political candidates under a controversial bill backed by U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

Currently, if churches make endorsements they can jeopardize their tax-exempt status.

“This bill will finally lift the fear and anxiety from houses of worship that seek to speak out on issues that affect the local community and our nation,” Brownback said during a recent Capitol Hill press conference.

The bill would allow pastors and ministers to endorse candidates, but churches still would be prohibited from spending money on a candidate’s campaign if they want to retain their tax-exempt status.

Not yet introduced, the Senate bill is expected to mirror HR 235, the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.

“Senator Brownback has been very supportive,” said Jones’ press secretary, Kristen Quigley. “His staff has been meeting with our staff to see what the next best step to take is — that step has not been decided yet.”

Quigley said three similar Jones-introduced bills have failed in the past.

“The congressman feels this is going to pass this year,” she said. “The concerns that have come up in the past have been addressed. The language has been fine-tuned.”

Jones and Brownback’s efforts are opposed by the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

HR.235 supporters site On the street: Should church leaders be able to endorse political candidates during their sermons without losing the church’s tax-exempt status?

“What Brownback is trying to do is politicize the American pulpit. He wants to make it legal for church leaders to hand down lists of endorsements,” said Americans United spokesman Robert Boston.

“Polls show most people don’t support this,” he said. “They go to church seeking salvation, not partisan politics.”

Currently, IRS regulations prohibit churches and other nonprofit groups from endorsing candidates or participating in their campaigns. Violators risk being subject to taxation.

Church involvement in political campaigns has been an issue in Kansas. Last year, several pastors vowed to register 100,000 voters after the Kansas House rejected a proposed amendment banning same-sex marriage. The amendment’s failure became an issue in last fall’s legislative races. When the Legislature convened this year, the amendment was one of the first things it approved. It will be on the statewide ballot April 5.

The pastors’ campaign last fall prompted MAINstream Coalition, a Johnson County-based group devoted to keeping church and state separate, to send letters to about 400 churches, reminding them of the prohibitions against mixing politics and religion.

The group also promised to send observers to church services to make sure laws were not being broken.

MAINstream Coalition Executive Director Caroline McKnight said she welcomed the likelihood of a Brownback-led debate over where to draw the line between church and state.

“The laws we have now are unenforceable,” she said. “The IRS has shown little or no interest in enforcing them, and based on today’s political campaign techniques they’re obsolete.

“So let’s have that discussion. If people think it’s appropriate to use a house of worship for political machinery, fine. But if that’s the case, then they should be paying taxes.”

Lawrence ministers and pastors are divided on the issue.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a pastor endorsing a candidate as long as the endorsement is based on the candidate’s character,” said the Rev. Scott Hanks, pastor at Heritage Baptist Church, 1781 East 800 Road.

Too often, elections are driven by candidates’ promises rather than their character, Hanks said.

He disputed the notion of separation of church and state.

“Anybody who knows history knows our forefathers founded this country to get away from a government-dictated church,” he said. “But that’s not to say the church could not or should not take part in government. We’ve got it backwards. We’ve restrained the church instead of restraining the government.”

The Rev. Peter Luckey, senior pastor at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt., disagreed. It’s wrong to mix worship services with political campaigns, he said.

“One of the great gifts of democracy is the separation of church and state,” he said. “As a pastor, I want to be supportive of that separation.”

Luckey said he encourages church members to be involved in their communities and to run for public office. But that encouragement, he said, stops short of endorsing a particular candidate or party.