In a year already chock-full of wins for conservative evangelicals in their culture wars, the Internal Revenue Service said July 7 it no longer will enforce the Johnson Amendment that prevents churches and other nonprofits from endorsing political candidates.
Although on the books since 1954, the rule seldom ever has been enforced by the IRS, although it has been used as a threat to keep partisan preachers in line. Now, the IRS under the Trump administration says it will abandon enforcement of the law entirely.
That’s a win for the right and the left, as both evangelical and Black Protestant churches have most frequently skirted the line between what’s information and what’s endorsement. However, it is conservative evangelicals who have been pressing most for abolishment of the rule.
The IRS announcement is part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the National Religious Broadcasters and two Texas Baptist churches — Sand Springs Church in Athens and First Baptist Church in Waskom. The plaintiffs claimed they are “constrained from speaking freely about political candidates by the Johnson Amendment and by the arbitrary and capricious interpretation and enforcement by the IRS.”
A proposed settlement between the IRS and the religious groups says discussions of politics “between the house of worship and its congregation, in connection with religious services” do not constitute participation or intervention in politics, as prohibited by the Johnson Amendment. Instead, such communications are more like a “family discussion concerning candidates” and “do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted.”
“Pastors and other church leaders may openly endorse candidates without threatening their tax-exempt status.”
Practically, this change in attitude — although not a change in law — means pastors and other church leaders may openly endorse candidates without threatening their tax-exempt status. It does not appear to allow churches and similar nonprofits to spend money on political campaigns, however.
Not all religious leaders think this change is a good idea for a variety of reasons, beginning with the further politicization of religious bodies.
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons
“This move represents a grave threat to healthy boundaries between government and religion,” said Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, vice president of programs and strategy at Interfaith Alliance. “It aims to heavily politicize the pulpit and could turn some religious institutions and organizations into thinly veiled fronts for partisan groups and candidates.
“Current law strikes the right balance, allowing tax-exempt houses of worship to engage in moral advocacy, but not to tell their congregations who they should or should not vote for. This radical change is clearly part of the Trump administration’s broader attempt to co-opt and weaponize organized religion as a tool of partisan political power.”
Amanda Tyler
Amanda Tyler, executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said: “By recasting pulpit endorsements as ‘a family discussion’ concerning candidates, the IRS upends decades of established guidance and would permit churches to take sides in electoral contests while retaining their tax-exempt status. That shift threatens to turn churches into PACs and undermine the core mission of religious communities, which will become targets for candidates from all parties.
“The law has never prevented clergy from speaking out on moral issues or engaging their congregations in civic life. But green-lighting tax-exempt churches to endorse candidates from the pulpit creates new pressure on religious leaders to align with partisan candidates and risk division within congregations and entanglement with campaign agendas.”
“This is not the repeal of the Johnson Amendment. This is the IRS choosing to ignore it when churches violate it,” said Freedom from Religion Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “If the IRS is saying churches and only churches are being given a pass from the Johnson Amendment, this clearly discriminates against other similarly situated 501(c)(3) tax-exempt groups.”
Annie Laurie Gaylor
Steven Emmert, executive director of the Secular Coalition for America, also decried the change: “For years, the IRS has looked the other way as churches increasingly endorsed political candidates from the pulpit. Now, the Trump administration has set a dangerous precedent that would allow sermons to double as campaign rallies. … To be clear, the Johnson Amendment is still a valid, enforceable section of the United States Tax Code today.”
Rachel Laser
Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said: “The Trump administration’s radical reinterpretation of the Johnson Amendment is a brazen attack on church-state separation that threatens our democracy by favoring houses of worship over other nonprofits and inserting them into partisan politics. It’s President Trump and his Christian nationalist allies’ signature move: exploiting religion to boost their own political power.”
A 2017 poll by Public Religion Research Institute found 71% of Americans, including majorities of major religious denominations, oppose repealing the Johnson Amendment.
On the other hand, evangelical leaders praised the IRS ruling.
Tony Perkins
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, called the announcement “a big deal and a long time in coming.”
After years of education, agitation and the efforts of many, churches will now be unshackled from the Johnson Amendment — free to speak biblically on cultural issues and candidates without fear of the IRS,” he said.
Lead attorney for plaintiffs in the suit is Michael Farris, NRB General Counsel, who previously was CEO of the powerhouse conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom and before that founded both the Home School Legal Defense Association and Patrick Henry College.
Some Republican lawmakers are now calling for legislation that would officially repeal the Johnson Amendment.
In 1954, creation of the Johnson Amendment was prompted by a personal concern of then-U.S. Sen. Lyndon Baines Johnson of Texas. Johnson pushed the bill amending the U.S. Tax Code through Congress, hoping to silence two nonprofit groups campaigning against him in McCarthy-like fashion as “a closet Communist.”
Johnson’s plan worked, and the bill was signed by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
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