Wise or not, should it be legal for pastors to preach from the pulpit for and against candidates for public office? When may a 501(c)(3) nonprofit speak up about issues being contested in an election, about candidates for office, about bills being crafted and debated in a legislature? These are questions created because IRS rules governing these activities are unclear and unevenly enforced.

In a rare Washington DC event, a diverse set of organizations held a press conference on January 29 to call for greater clarity. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), taking on a challenge from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has taken the lead to probe this and other issues of nonprofit and church regulation. ECFA was joined in this press conference by the Center for American Progress, Public Citizen, and Alliance Defending Freedom.

As Alex DeMots of the Center for American Progress said: “It’s just bad public policy for a small charity or church or community organization to have to hire a lawyer to figure out what it can and can’t do.”