Churches and other tax-exempt institutions in the U.S. are prohibited from engaging in political speech and making endorsements, but now, Donald Trump plans to change that.
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“We need security. There are those who would seek to enter our country.to spread violence or oppressing other people based upon their faith”.
Because Johnson’s ire had been raised, many churches and pastors have felt effectively silenced for over half a century, unable to speak about our country’s course because they fear running afoul of the IRS.
Trump said that religious liberty is now under threat. So far he has not detailed his plans for doing away with the rule, which he has previously promised to rescind. It was authored by and subsequently named for then-Sen.
That means either they spend the next four years, policing their own protest for signs that they could be running afoul of the Johnson Amendment themselves (and risk a Trump-led IRS investigation), or hope that Trump frees up non-profits from the constricting provisions.
“I will do that, remember”, Trump added. “None has been summoned to date”. Since 2008, the Alliance Defending Freedom has organized “Pulpit Freedom Sunday”, encouraging pastors to give explicitly political sermons in defiance of the law.
“We tread a risky line when we allow pulpits to become political platforms”.
“It certainly matters that the President shares the goal of repealing the Johnson Amendment”, Bond said.
However the amendment only prevents tax exempt organisations from engaging in partisan activity such as endorsing or campaigning for specific candidates.
The amendment, however, does not restrict clergy from openly discussing political issues and expressing political beliefs with their congregations. Schwarzenegger tweeted in response that he and Trump should switch jobs and Americans would sleep better. “Why don’t we switch jobs?”
Some clergy do make their candidate choices known.
On the Johnson Amendment, Trump said: “It was the great Thomas Jefferson who said the gGod who gave us life gave us liberty”.
While religious freedom groups have had little success bringing an end to the amendment and court challenges have similarly failed, Trump made a lot of noise invoking it at last year’s Republican National Convention.
By comparison, just 4 percent of white evangelicals reported having heard their clergy speak in favor of a presidential candidate (2 percent each for Trump and Clinton), while 7 percent heard their clergy speak against a candidate (mostly Clinton). We will not allow a beachhead of intolerance to spread in our nation.
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Peter Montgomery of the liberal advocacy group People For the American Way said Trump wants to pay back religious conservatives who helped get him elected “by letting them turn their churches into political machines with tax-exempt charitable dollars”.
