While some pastors across America may have endorsed a political candidate Sunday, Steve Smothermon, pastor of Albuquerque’s Legacy Christian Church, stayed away from names when talking politics from the pulpit — maybe because doing so would risk his church’s nonprofit status.

But that didn’t stop Smothermon from exhorting his flock to vote their values and pointing them to a voter guide in the lobby of his church that showed where presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama stood on what he described as biblical values. A cursory check of the guide showed that John McCain appeared to be on the right side on all 15 issues, while Obama was on the wrong side on 14 of the 15.

The list included the usual suspects: a state constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage, a constitutional right (or not) to abortion and nomination of pro-life Supreme Court Justices. But there were also some lesser known biblical issues such as the right to private gun ownership, reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, government control of health care, and immigration reform and border security.

Why the scrutiny?

Smothermon didn’t endorse McCain from the pulpit as perhaps the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund had hoped. Leading up to Sunday, the ADF encouraged pastors across the nation to endorse political candidates in violation of IRS rules set out for 501c3 non profits, a provision that churches fall under. In turn, ADF had promised to provide participating churches with attorneys to defend all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court what ADF says is the pastors’ First Amendment right to “speak freely” from the pulpit.

As ADF says on its Web site:

The sermons are intended to restore a pastor’s right to speak freely from his pulpit without fearing censorship or punishment by the government. By standing together and speaking with one voice, it is our hope to recapture the rightful place of pastors and churches in American life.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Alliance “contacted ‘hundreds’ of ministers, rabbis and priests, seeking a range of political views for Sunday’s action. But most of the churches it managed to recruit appear to be evangelical Protestant or Pentecostal congregations, whose pastors and members tend to be right-leaning.”

The New Mexico Independent contacted several churches last week and found many pastors either unaware of the program or saying they did not plan to participate in the program. The Independent also attended services at Legacy and Calvary church in Albuquerque on Sunday, but heard no endorsements of political candidates from the pulpit.

Smothermon’s directing congregants to the voter guide was as close as it came, along with some general comments about the importance of having good politicians. Directing religious congregants to voter guides of course is not new to politics. Black churches have used voter guides for decades. And there is some hint that liberal churches use voter guides to help congregants make sense of where candidates stand on issues.

Smothermon made remarks at his 8:30 a.m. service about the restrictions that the 501c3 tax laws have placed on churches. Before the 1960s, he said, pastors often gave sermons about politics and political leaders. But then the ACLU got involved, he explained, and the advent of the 501c3 designation has constrained political sermons ever since.

After he touched on 501c3 restrictions, he wrapped up by urging the congregation to “just vote your values,” directing them to a table in the lobby where they could register to vote and pick up a voter issue guide that describes where the presidential candidates stand on 15 issues. Smothermon described those issues as pertinent to biblical values.

Later in the morning, he expressed how important it was to have good people in high positions, such as mayor, governor, on the city council or in the state legislature.

The voter guide, produced by the American Family Association, has three sections: homosexuality, sanctity of life (which is about abortion), and “other key issues.”

The “other issues” section includes major campaign issues during this election season that aren’t apparent in the mission of the American Family Association, which stands for “traditional family values.”

For instance, it includes immigration reform and border security–both candidates are in the “Supports” category of being for border security before “granting some form of amnesty.” Then, there’s “government control of health care” with a subheading of “government funded or regulated health care” –McCain is rated as “Opposes” while Obama is rated as “Supports.”

On “reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil,” McCain won a “Supports” rating while Obama gets an “Opposes.” The fine print says the subject refers to the lifting of a ban on off-shore oil drilling. Obama was one of the first Democrats to say he would compromise on this point as energy prices began to rise earlier in the year. Not to mention, like most candidates this election season, Obama makes ending dependence on foreign oil a central plank of his energy plan. So it’s unclear how this rating was derived. It’s also unclear how it supports “traditional family values” or is a biblical issue, for that matter.