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Seeking advice on how to vote in the Nov. 7 general election, Huey Hemphill found what he needed at the Tucson Baptist Temple in Midtown.

Hemphill, 72, a retired produce manager, says he picked up a voting guide published by the conservative Center for Arizona Policy in the lobby of his church. The guide asks candidates 15 questions — five referencing abortion or marriage and homosexuality — and gives Hemphill all the information he says he'll need when he goes to the polls.

"Some of the questions they ask are biblical, like defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Marriage was ordained by Christ," he said. "My faith in Jesus Christ plays 120 percent in the way I vote."

Some critics say such intermingling of religion and state goes against not only the First Amendment, but also federal rules governing the income-tax exemptions allowed to nonprofits, including religious groups.

"I think it's not right that people who are not religious should be supporting churches and other faith-based things," said Tucsonan Jerry Karches, a retired physicist and an atheist.

The Internal Revenue Service says churches such as Tucson Baptist Temple may hand out voting guides as long as they don't endorse candidates. Also, it's legal for religious groups to take positions on public-policy issues, including issues that divide candidates in an election. In general, no organization, including a church, may qualify for nonprofit status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation, commonly known as lobbying.

Still, distinguishing between nonpartisan voter education and illegal church politicking can be difficult.

In the wake of recent findings that 59 nonprofit groups jeopardized their tax-exempt status by engaging in political activities during the 2004 election season, the IRS is warning churches and other nonprofit groups about electioneering rules.

The IRS wouldn't disclose the names of the groups it investigated, but earlier this year issued a reminder to 501(c)(3) groups that while organizations may engage in some activities to promote voter registration, encourage voter participation and educate voters, they'll violate the prohibition on political campaign intervention if they engage in an activity that favors or opposes any candidate.

Hemphill's church isn't the only local religious group getting into the spirit of election season. Click on the Web site of St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church and there is a message urging worshippers to vote down Proposition 107, which would amend the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. It also would bar governments from giving any benefits to domestic partners.

Arizona's three Roman Catholic bishops are publicly supporting Proposition 107 and Proposition 203, which increases the state tax on cigarettes by 80 cents a pack to pay for preschool programs and health screenings for low-income children up to 5 years old. The bishops oppose Proposition 300, which would make illegal immigrants ineligible for certain state-funded services.

Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon of Temple Emanu-El, a Reform Jewish congregation in Midtown, has written a public letter opposing Proposition 107. And the Rev. Keith Powell of LifePoint Community Church in Marana is working on the political campaign of an Arizona congressional candidate.

National faith-based groups also are getting involved in election season. The Colorado-based Focus on the Family has a program called iVoteValues.org that urges "values voting."

Coral Ridge Ministries, a Florida-based church and Christian media network, has programs aimed at registering Christian voters and encouraging them to vote for "godly leadership and virtuous laws and initiatives that will advance morality in our land."

Also, the Red Letter Christians, a group of "progressive Christian leaders," recently launched an election initiative aimed at advancing the message that faith cannot be reduced to two hot-button social issues — abortion and homosexuality.

"I don't like using the pulpit to endorse candidates, but I do like using it as a sounding board," said the Rev. David Wilkinson of Tucson's St. Francis in the Foothills. "The responsibility of the church is to awaken people to the full dynamics of certain platforms of certain political parties. I never feel restricted. The only thing I won't do is tell people who to vote for."

He doesn't hesitate to say he believes Propositions 107 and 300 are "mean" and "don't fit within the context of faith and Christianity." If the ballot measures pass, he says they'll deprive people of basic civil rights.

"If we can't speak out on issues of injustice, that flies in the face of our whole Judeo-Christian tradition," Wilkinson said.

The IRS ban on church electioneering began in 1954, when Congress passed a law at the request of then-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, who was angry at efforts by a Texas nonprofit to defeat him. The law says tax-exempt entities such as houses of worship and charities must refrain from what the IRS defines as "any and all activities that favor or oppose one or more candidate for public office." The most recent change to the law came in 1987, when Congress amended the language to clarify that the ban also applies to statements opposing candidates.

In one case of alleged church politicking recently made public, the IRS sent a warning to All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif., because during a sermon in November 2004 — days before the presidential election — a retired rector criticized the war in Iraq and politicians who oppose abortion or anti-poverty programs.

Rabbi Cohon of Temple Emanu-El says that when the Iraq war began in 2003, he spoke against the occupation during a High Holy Days service but stopped short of criticizing any political leaders.

"I said if we've accomplished our mission then we need to leave because nobody wins an occupation," he said.

Cohon stressed that while he may speak about world issues in services, he thinks it best that his congregants make up their own minds about how to vote.

"I'm a rabbi, not a political-science professor," he said. "We host candidate forums and we try to get as much information to people as possible."

IRS law allows religious leaders to back candidates if they do so as private individuals.

"I'm actively working as a private citizen with a candidate, and I think it's my duty as a Christian to be involved and influence the process however I can," said the Rev. Powell, of LifePoint Community Church. He would not publicly disclose the name of the candidate.

Powell doesn't tell his parishioners how to vote on propositions or candidates, though he stresses that churches should not be silent on social issues.

"I think the time may come when churches have to either be completely outside of the political ring, or we will have to step up and say that we must lead in the culture no matter the cost," he said.

In September, U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., introduced a bill called the Religious Freedom Act of 2006, which would allow houses of worship to endorse candidates without risking tax-exempt status. The bill has been assailed for its potential to open the door to allowing churches and other places of worship to engage in highly partisan political activity.

Huey Hemphill says most pastors don't have time to talk about politics because they are winning people to the Lord. Yet, noting that the money he donates through tithing already has been taxed before it reaches his church's coffers, Hemphill says there's no reason the federal government should restrict churches' political activities.

"Nowhere in the First Amendment does it say 'separation of church and state,' " he said. "It's discriminatory to say church and state should be separate. It's a slap in the face to the Christian faith."

On StarNet Find more faith and values coverage at azstarnet.com/faith