A coalition of nonprofits and faith-based groups on Wednesday called on the Trump administration to keep politics out of houses of worship, warning the White House that allowing political endorsements by religious leaders could sully the independent reputation enjoyed by many tax-exempt organizations.
Led by the National Council of Nonprofits, more than 1,000 organizations signed a letter to the president asking that he continue to support the so-called Johnson Amendment, a 70-year-old law that prohibits politicking by tax-exempt religious organizations. The law, already rarely enforced, was dealt a blow on July 7 when the Internal Revenue Service said it would not enforce the law in a proposed legal settlement in a case two churches and the National Religious Broadcasters brought against the agency.
If the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas approves the settlement, it “risks opening the floodgates for any church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or other house of worship to do the same, and it could create a slippery slope to do the same for all nonprofits,” the letter argues.
While it would take an act of Congress to repeal the Johnson Amendment, Diane Yentel, president of the National Council of Nonprofits, warned the proposed settlement in the case would be a signal that churches could freely endorse candidates without fear of consequences, leading nonprofits to become “tools” of political bosses.
“Politicians could try to pressure nonprofits to endorse their political campaigns, exert control over organizations’ missions and the services they provide, or they could funnel tax-exempt charitable donations to their election funds,” Yentel said in a video news conference where she was joined by leaders from the Baptist Joint Committee, Interfaith Alliance, National Council of Churches USA, and Public Citizen.
During his first term, Trump issued an executive order that directed the U.S. Treasury not to take any adverse action, such as denying or delaying tax-exempt status, against any religious organizations on the basis of their political speech. He followed up during his current term in May when he signed a new executive order appointing Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development during Trump’s first administration, to lead a new Religious Liberty Commission housed at the U.S. Department of Justice. He tasked the commission with investigating any practices or policies that prohibit congregations from practicing “their faith without fear of discrimination or hostility from the Government.”
Congress has also taken up the debate in recent years. In 2017 an item weakening the rule against endorsements by religious leaders was attached to broader legislation that passed the House, but the language was stripped from the bill in the Senate.
In the proposed settlement to the federal case in Texas, the IRS and the plaintiffs note that the Johnson Amendment prohibits places of worship from “intervening” in the outcome of a political race or “participating” in a campaign.
“Bona fide communications internal to a house of worship, between the house of worship and its congregation, in connection with religious services, do neither of those things, any more than does a family discussion concerning candidates,” they argued.
The proposed settlement further warns that enforcing the Johnson Amendment could infringe on religious liberty, stating: “For many houses of worship, the exercise of their religious beliefs includes teaching or instructing their congregation regarding all aspects of life, including guidance concerning the impact of faith on the choices inherent in electoral politics.”
But the idea that political endorsements are limited to sermons from the pulpit is misguided, said Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, a consumer and government watchdog group. Weissman said that it is very easy to create a church and then use all forms of communication — social-media posts, direct mail, television and radio broadcasts, and streaming programs — to send out political endorsements.
Weissman cautioned: “It will be easy for new enterprises to call themselves into being, claim to be churches, and become new funnels for tax-deductible, dark money if the Johnson Amendment is overturned.”
