A First Amendment Right for Pastors

I consider myself pretty much a First Amendment absolutist--meaning basically that I believe in maximum freedom for both religious practice or nonpractice, and that unless you're shouting "fire" in a crowded movie theater, you should be able to say pretty much what you want to say, where you want to say it.        

That's why I applaud the 100 or so conservative pastors who plan to defy a 1950s-era law today and endorse candidates from the pulpit. I would probably disagree with their picks, and would say so in any forum available to me. But I do think they have the right to make their political beliefs known in a religious setting. If their parishioners are such sheep that they follow blindly their pastors' political recommendations, then so be it.