More than 1,000 churches and nonprofits in 50 states have signed a letter protesting the Trump administration’s attempt to shield congregations from a law banning tax-exempt organizations from endorsing political candidates.
Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Billy Long agreed July 7 to exempt churches and other houses of worship from the Johnson Amendment to settle a lawsuit brought by a Christian broadcasters group and two Texas churches. The proposal awaits approval by a Texas federal court.
In addition to enabling plaintiffs in National Religious Broadcasters v. Long to endorse political candidates, the carve-out could trigger an avalanche of churches, synagogues, mosques and other congregations to follow suit and likely do the same among 501(c)(3) organizations, according the coalition letter against the move.
“If successful, it would open the door for political actors to use charitable nonprofits as conduits for anonymous campaign funding, benefiting from substantial tax write-offs while shifting the financial burden onto taxpayers who may disagree with the candidates or causes being supported.”
Holly Hollman
Churches involved in electioneering and political campaigns will cause much greater harm to themselves than the freedom-of-speech violations the lawsuit wrongly claims, said Holly Hollman, associate executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, in a July 30 webinar introducing the letter. “It opens them up to increased pressure from powerful partisan forces that would undermine the mission of these houses of worship and undermine their ability to serve.”
BJC has opposed previous attempts to weaken or eliminate the 1954 Johnson Amendment because it is in congregations’ best interest, Hollman said. “We support the existing tax law provision that shields houses of worship and all charitable tax-exempt organizations that receive tax deductible funds donations from the harsh rancor and divisiveness of so many campaigns.”
Diane Yentel
Creating an exemption for houses of worship will spill over into the wider nonprofit sector and interfere with the nonpartisan nature of the services they provide clients and communities, predicted Diane Yentel, president of the National Council of Nonprofits. “Charitable nonprofits are one of the few places left in American society where political party labels and ideology can be left at the door, places where people come together across differences to address community needs. But this core principle is now under threat.”
The settlement would enable political operatives to pressure congregational and clergy support for candidates and let dark money filter into churches and nonprofits, Yentel added. “They could funnel tax-exempt charitable donations to their election funds. This effort, if successful, would radically alter campaign finance laws to benefit politicians at the expense of charities, houses of worship and foundations.”
The politicization of congregations will go far beyond preachers extolling candidates from their pulpits, Public Citizen co-President Robert Weissman warned.
Robert Weissman
“The image you should have is that of what churches actually do, which is use all modern forms of communication to reach out to their congregations and to others — the public,” he said. “Broadly, that means social media posts, that means direct mail, that means TV and radio broadcasts, that means streaming, that means advertising.”
And since the IRS is not in the business of defining what constitutes a church, political groups will be able to establish organizations capable of accepting tax-exempt contributions, Weissman added. “It will be easy for new enterprises to call themselves churches and become new funnels for tax-deductible dark money if the Johnson Amendment is overturned.”
Already, a number of evangelical advocacy groups have been classified as churches by the IRS and therefore do not have to file the detailed financials of IRS Form 990.
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons
The settlement and the lawsuit that inspired this change are misleading in claiming religious institutions are currently barred from engagement in civic life, said Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, vice president of programs and strategy at Interfaith Alliance. “The bright line preventing houses of worship from endorsing specific partisan candidates ensures that our sacred spaces won’t be radically transformed into tools of any political party.”
Attempting to erode the effectiveness of the Johnson Amendment is part of the Trump administration’s widely rejected attacks on religious freedom, he said.
In addition to Interfaith Alliance, Public Citizen, BJC and National Council of Nonprofits, the opposing letter is signed by faith groups representing millions of Americans, such as Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
“We have also seen the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reiterate that it does not endorse political candidates, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that Catholic parishes will not endorse political candidates even if the tax code were to allow it,” Graves-Fitzsimmons said.
He also cited polling showing the majority of Americans are opposed to allowing religious groups to endorse political candidates. A 2023 Public Religion Research Institute survey found 75% of Americans opposed the practice, as did 98% of pastors polled by the National Association of Evangelicals in 2024.
Leslie Copeland-Tune
Becoming enmeshed with political causes is something faith groups need to avoid at all costs, said Leslie Copeland-Tune, chief operating officer of the National Council of Churches. “Trust is hard to build and even harder to rebuild, and we want our congregations to feel like when they are coming to worship services, that they are in a safe and sacred space.”
Politicizing churches will drive an even deeper wedge between members experiencing alienation due to political and cultural differences, she said. “Sadly, we know that toxic polarization has already gained a foothold in our country, in our communities, our denominations and in our congregations. Allowing this to happen with the Johnson Amendment will make us increasingly more toxic, more polarized and compromise the safe space that we have when we go to our houses of worship.”
Americans United for Separation of Church and State said it signed the letter and also filed a motion to block the settlement.
“The Trump administration’s radical reinterpretation of this federal law is a flagrant, self-serving attack on church-state separation that threatens our democracy by plunging houses of worship into partisan battles,” AU President Rachel Laser said.
Weakening the law would do lasting harm to churches, nonprofits and American democracy, said Annie Laurie Gaylor, president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation Fund. “Preserving the Johnson Amendment is critical for keeping our charitable sector from becoming a pipeline for political donations and partisan campaigning. Weakening these protections would erode public trust, invite corruption and create a whole new category of dark money.”
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