Johnson Amendment

“Trump administration lawyers have argued a key component of the Johnson Amendment, which bars nonprofits from taking part in political campaigns, should not apply to churches.” - RNS

“He also wrote that there was a simple solution for churches that wanted to avoid being penalized for endorsing candidates: ‘Put differently, if the plaintiffs here gave up their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, none of the harms they allege could occur.’” - RNS

“The current consent decree limits a non-profit’s permissible political activity to ‘(b)ona fide communications internal to a house of worship, between the house of worship and its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith.’” - RNS

“Before a pastor or church decides to declare once and for all their red or blue colors, however, it might be wise to consider the impact it might have on their witness.” - Baptist Press

“Although it was rarely enforced, bad faith actors have used the Johnson Amendment as a tool to intimidate churches into remaining silent on a whole host of biblically informed electoral issues—not just specific candidates” - Baptist Press

“Barna released research on Tuesday which found that 50 percent of surveyed pastors felt either ‘frequently’ or ‘occasionally’ limited in their ability to speak out on certain issues, with respondents being more likely to identify those within the church as the reason.” - CPost

“The part of tax law that prohibits houses of worship from engaging in explicit political activity will remain intact for now, despite concerns that Republican lawmakers would try to repeal it in the latest massive federal spending bill they released this week.” RNS

“A Democratic senator announced Thursday night that the repeal included in the House version of the tax bill, which would allow churches and other nonprofits to endorse candidates without losing their tax-exempt status, was removed during the reconciliation process with the Senate version, which did not include a repeal.” CToday

“1. The Johnson Amendment exclusively targets churches” CPost

Political Endorsements Unnecessarily Divide Congregations and Tacitly Approve Every Action of a Politician