A dozen San Antonio interfaith leaders gathered in front of the Bexar County Courthouse on Wednesday to remind houses of worship that partisan politics violates federal law and could threaten their nonprofit tax-exempt status.

Until the presidential election on Nov. 8, members of the educational campaign called Project Fair Play will reach out to their religious counterparts, primarily through calls and email, about the law.

“If you want to support Trump or Hillary,” said Rick McClatchy, Texas field coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, “you can’t be a 501(c)3,” referring to the provision in the Internal Revenue Code.

The campaign is backed by Americans United of San Antonio, a chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Project Fair Play issued a list of do’s and don’ts Wednesday that caution houses of worship against endorsing or opposing candidates, donating to candidates or political action committees, sponsoring campaign rallies on congregation property or giving space to candidates while refusing it to others.

Several leaders said such rules tend to be violated during presidential elections.

Federal requirements don’t leave churches, synagogues and mosques without a voice, leaders said.

Paul Ziese, a representative of COPS Metro Alliance and pastor of MacArthur Park Lutheran Church, said federal law doesn’t preclude congregations from getting involved in social and political issues. Neither does the law keep houses of worship from civic engagement.

“But we need to be structurally separate,” Ziese said. “We need to stay out of parties and personalities.”

Garrett Vickrey, senior pastor of Woodland Baptist Church, said he hasn’t “always been a perfect example” of treading the separation.

“During the primaries, I made a Trump joke in a sermon,” he said. “It was a cheap shot. It was a mistake.”

He said his church “was graceful” to him, but some members asked him to refrain from such talk. He agreed.

Vickrey said houses of worship must be welcoming to Republicans, Democrats and independents and avoid the “unnecessary entanglement” of partisanship.

Iman Mehmet Oguz, regional director of the Dialogue Institute of the Southwest, stressed the role a mosque plays in nurturing “a person’s thoughts and deliberations of being good, righteous and virtuous.”

“We need to sustain an effort to listen to each other, to learn from each other, to respect one another and to seek common ground,” he said.

Project Fair Play leaders said houses of worship should hold voter-registration drives and encourage people to vote Nov.

8. They can host forums, too, but only if “all candidates are invited and a broad range of issues is discussed.”

Rabbi Marina Yergin of Temple Beth-El said that following the law “does not mean that we stay silent.”

“At Temple Beth-El, we speak about the importance of voting and fulfilling our responsibility. We encourage an open dialogue between our members but not in a formal synagogue setting.”

San Antonians can report IRS code violations by houses of worship online at projectfairplay.com. eayala@express-news.net Twitter: @ElaineAyala