America's churches must "have the freedom to speak the gospel message" — and that includes discussing politics and elections, the Rev. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life told
Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"Whether we're in church, in our business life, in our personal lives, whether we're in the kitchen or in the voting booth."
"All of the things we do, including casting a vote, are moral actions," Pavone, the organization's national director, told "The Hard Line" host Ed Berliner. "They have a moral component.
"It's the church's responsibility to say: 'When you go to the voting booth, what are the things you have to consider? What are the issues? What kind of positions of the candidates do you need to look for?'
"These are moral issues," he added. "They're either leading you and your nation closer to the kingdom of God and what the gospel prescribes or farther away.
"You can't separate it and you can't ignore it," Pavone said.
His new book is
"Abolishing Abortion: How You Can Play a Part in Ending the Greatest Evil of Our Day."
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Pavone said that his objective was to "encourage the churches to realize that if they believe this and they say it from the pulpit, they should not be acting with any kind of fear that the IRS or government in any other way is going to come in and punish them for teaching and preaching what they believe as a church.
"There needs to be freedom."