The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the Bush campaign is soliciting churches to distribute campaign materials. The paper obtained a Bush campaign e-mail that laid out their plan:

In the message, dated early Tuesday afternoon, Luke Bernstein, coalitions coordinator for the Bush campaign in Pennsylvania, wrote: "The Bush-Cheney '04 national headquarters in Virginia has asked us to identify 1,600 `Friendly Congregations' in Pennsylvania where voters friendly to President Bush might gather on a regular basis."

In each targeted "place of worship," Mr. Bernstein continued, without mentioning a specific religion or denomination, "we'd like to identify a volunteer who can help distribute general information to other supporters." He explained: "We plan to undertake activities such as distributing general information/updates or voter registration materials in a place accessible to the congregation."

No church should ever be involved in partisan political campaigns. Undertaking such action would be blatantly unconstitutional and in opposition to the historical non-partisan role of churches in the United States. Many churches, of course, are involved in issue advocacy and that is appropriate as long as it remains non-partisan. Ministers are – as citizens – allowed to endorse political candidates and freedom of speech provisions in the Constitution allow them to promote candidacies from the pulpit. Churches, as non-profit bodies, cannot engage in such efforts.

The Bush effort, as reported in The New York Times, has drawn criticism from liberal and conservative Christians:

"If I were a pastor, I would not be comfortable doing that," said Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. "I would say to my church members, we are going to talk about the issues and we are going to take information from the platforms of the two parties about where they stand on the issues. I would tell them to vote and to vote their conscience, and the Lord alone is the Lord of the conscience."

In a statement, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, a liberal group, called the effort "an astonishing abuse of religion" and "the rawest form of manipulation of religion for partisan gain." He urged the president to repudiate the effort.

This undertaking by the Bush campaign demonstrates a gross interest by the president in using the good faith of Christians for his own partisan political purposes. Not that I’m surprised. Though it still makes me sick.