It must have seemed an attractive idea at the time. But a much-heralded push to organize mass violations of an IRS ban on political endorsements in churches seems to be attracting few takers. And the IRS has already pledged to review complaints about any churches that do participate.

The so-called “Pulpit Initiative” (earlier MnIndy post) was launched by the Alliance Defense Fund, an offshoot of James (Focus on the Family) Dobson’s evangelical empire. As the Arizona-based organization’s website explains, this coming Sunday, September 28, is the target date for the effort. When IRS complaints ensue, ADF’s strategy is then to take individual cases to court in an attempt to overturn the IRS rule.

But as zero hour approaches, there are signs that few churches care to be so cavalier about their nonprofit tax status. Last week ADF officials pledged in an email response to Minnesota Independent, “We will have updated information regarding the pastors participating in the ‘Pulpit Initiative’ on our website… beginning on September 22nd, a week before Pulpit Freedom Sunday when the pastors give their messages.”

Three days after that self-appointed deadline, however, there is still no accounting of participants on the ADF website, however, and two subsequent emails to ADF official Erik Stanley asking for the update have gone unanswered. I phoned over a dozen metro-area evangelical churches to ask if any were planning to participate; so far, none has even called back. (I’ll update if any do.)

The Internal Revenue Service, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that it will review complaints over “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” as the event is also called. Several former IRS employees have filed a complaint with their former employer alleging wrongdoing by ADF and participating churches. The prospect of legal action is of course no discouragement to ADF; it’s the plan. Churches, however, seem to be less sanguine about the idea.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State said they will be reporting churches who violate the law to the IRS. Said Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, “Pastors who are thinking of joining the ADF’s gambit still have time to change their minds and I urge them to do so.”

One Minnesota church pastor, however, has been very vocal about his plans to violate the law. Pastor Gus Booth of Warroad Community Church–located in a small town near the Canadian border–says he has no qualms about endorsing John McCain from the pulpit and in fact has been doing so all summer. Booth was also a delegate to the Republican National Convention.

Booth told National Public Radio on Wednesday, “Bottom line is, I’m a spiritual leader in this community, and spiritual leaders need to make decisions. We need to lead spiritually, and we need to be able to speak about the moral issues of the day. And right now, the moral issues of today are also the political issues of today.”

But not all religious leaders agree that mixing religion and politics is a good idea. The Anti-Defamation League criticized the move on Wednesday.

“Ministers and pastors, in their personal capacity, already have every right to support or oppose candidates for public office,” said Abraham H. Foxman, national director for ADL. “They can speak out on political issues, and promote voter participation and voter education initiatives. But politicizing churches coerces congregants, distorts the political system and poses a serious threat to religious liberty.”