New York Times, I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit:
The I.R.S. said on Monday that churches and other houses of worship can endorse political candidates to their congregations, carving out an exemption in a decades-old ban on political activity by tax-exempt nonprofits.
The agency made that statement in a court filing intended to settle a lawsuit filed by two Texas churches and an association of Christian broadcasters.
The plaintiffs that sued the Internal Revenue Service had previously asked a federal court in Texas to create an even broader exemption — to rule that all nonprofits, religious and secular, were free to endorse candidates to their members. That would have erased a bedrock idea of American nonprofit law: that tax-exempt groups cannot be used as tools of any campaign.
Instead, the I.R.S. agreed to a narrower carveout — one that experts in nonprofit law said might sharply increase politicking in churches, even though it mainly seemed to formalize what already seemed to be the agency’s unspoken policy.
The agency said that if a house of worship endorsed a candidate to its congregants, the I.R.S. would view that not as campaigning but as a private matter, like “a family discussion concerning candidates.”
“Thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted,” the agency said, in a motion filed jointly with the plaintiffs.
The ban on campaigning by nonprofits is named after former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who introduced it as a senator in 1954. President Trump has repeatedly called for its repeal. …
For years, the I.R.S. has seemed deeply leery of punishing religious leaders for political statements made during worship. But experts said this was the first time that the agency had formally said such statements were not just tolerated but explicitly legal. …
“It basically tells churches of all denominations and sects that you’re free to support candidates from the pulpit,” said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame. …
Ellen P. Aprill, a professor emeritus at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said she believed that the I.R.S.’s decision would set off new debates about its limits. What if a church posts endorsements online? Communications meant for congregants could easily reach people unconnected to the church family.
Christianity Today, Churches Can Endorse Political Candidates, IRS Says:
New interpretation of tax law is a win for conservative Christians who have long opposed the Johnson Amendment. …
The IRS now says that, actually, nothing that happens at church or through a church’s “usual channels of communication on matters of faith” can violate the Johnson Amendment. Even a sermon that explicitly tells people in the pews how to vote does not “participate” or “intervene” in a campaign, according to the IRS, at least not “within the ordinary meaning of those words.”
The agency wants the court to settle a lawsuit brought by the National Religious Broadcasters and two evangelical churches in East Texas. The court filing, which was first reported by The New York Times, also notches a political victory for conservative Christians who have long opposed the Johnson Amendment.
Southern Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress once called the law an “assault by government on religious liberty.” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Erik Stanley said it violates pastors’ “right to speak about Biblical truths from the pulpit without fear of punishment.”
Opponents of the Johnson Amendment even encouraged pastors to violate the law in acts of civil disobedience. About 30 churches participated in the first Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008. More than 1,800 joined in 2014. …
The law has not been enforced very often. In more than 70 years, it appears only two churches have lost their tax-exempt status for political activity. One took out newspaper ads opposing Bill Clinton’s bid for the White House in 1992. Another reportedly lost its status in 2012, but details, including the church’s name and purported political activity, are unknown. …
A Lifeway Research study found most Americans don’t want ministers to endorse candidates, but they are more open to it than they used to be. The percentage of Americans who say a political endorsement during a worship service would be appropriate more than doubled between a phone survey in 2008 and an online survey in 2024.
Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer (Notre Dame), IRS Says Churches May Endorse Political Candidates Despite a Decades-Old Federal Statute Barring Them From Doing That:
The Conversation U.S. asked Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a law professor who has studied the regulation of churches’ political activities, to explain what this statute is, how the IRS seeks to change its purview and why this matters.
- ABC News, A Surprise IRS Move on Political Endorsements Leaves Faith Leaders and Legal Experts Divided
- Bloomberg Law, IRS’ Church Political Speech Deal Faces Nonprofit’s Objection
- Bloomberg Law, IRS Says Religious Groups Can Discuss Politics During Services
- Catholic News Agency, U.S. Catholic Bishops: Church Will Not Endorse Political Candidates Despite IRS Shift
- Christian Post, 'Unshackling the Pulpit' or 'a Brazen Attack'?: 7 Reactions to IRS Letting Pastors Endorse Politicians
- Daily Signal, First Amendment Triumph: IRS Recognizes Pastors’ Right to Free Speech
- National Review, U.S. Catholic Bishops Confirm Church Will Continue Refraining from Political Endorsements
- New York Post, No Politics in the Pulpit: IRS Rule Change Will Ruin Reverence
- Politico, IRS Moves to Allow Political Engagement from Churches, in a Win for Evangelical Groups
- Press Release, Americans United for Separation of Church and State Denounces IRS Plan to Exempt Houses of Worship from the Johnson Amendment
- Press Release, Statement from the National Council of Nonprofits on IRS Request to Allow Churches to Endorse Political Candidates
- Salon, Trump’s IRS Payola for Churches Will Backfire on Evangelicals
- Slate, Hallelujah? The Johnson Amendment Is Gone. Why Aren’t Evangelicals Happier?
- Washington Post, IRS Says Churches Should be Allowed to Make Political Endorsements
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