| There has been a lot of discussion this week about a new consent decree acknowledging that churches have more latitude around election activity. Many of the reports have made false conclusions or stoked hysteria about what this means for the church. We wanted to take a moment to break down the issue for you and remind you of eternal truths. What is the Johnson Amendment? American pastors have a long history of involvement in politics. From fiery sermons during the American Revolution to those during the Civil Rights Era, American churches and pastors have been agents of significant social and cultural change. Many of these pastors understood that there is no political issue that is not first biblical. However, in 1954, Senator Lyndon Johnson quietly added an amendment to the IRS Act that stopped any organization that is tax-exempt under IRS 501(c)(3) from supporting or opposing a political candidate. The Johnson Amendment changed the tax code in 1954 without any debate, and is still being used to intimidate churches, religious institutions, and other tax-exempt organizations today. The restriction until now has required that a 501 (c)(3) organization refrain from intervening in political campaigns for or against a candidate or else potentially risk an investigation. Since then, churches and non-profits have consistently sought clarification on what this Amendment means for them. Unfortunately, it has been enforced and interpreted differently depending on who is in the White House. The debate has centered around how “intervention” is defined. What impact has the Johnson Amendment had? As a foundational principle, churches and pastors have a God-given right to speak and express their faith. Many paired the restriction in the Johnson Amendment with the often-misunderstood idea espoused by Thomas Jefferson in his letter to the Danbury Baptists of a “high wall of separation” between religion and the government. This language was intended to protect the church from being controlled by the government, but many used it to try to silence the church. The Johnson Amendment was rarely enforced. However, it had a much larger cultural impact on the church. Many pastors were afraid even to speak on biblical issues that were viewed as being political, even if they were not specifically discussing a current event or campaign. This retreat has meant that there are many Christians who hold political conclusions that are not informed by the Word of God. This is not to say that the church should be turned into a campaign center, but a church that shies away from discussing topics in the Bible simply because the government may punish it is not true to scripture. What changed? This week a draft consent in a case between NRB and two Texas churches and the IRS was released. Succinctly, the draft order means that the IRS agrees that the normal communications of a church to its congregants are not considered to be intervention in a political campaign. Specifically, it says, “[C]ommunications 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 order does not say anything directly about endorsing candidates, but it is clear that when a church speaks through its normal means based on its beliefs, the Johnson Amendment does not apply, and churches are not at risk in supporting or opposing a political campaign. Each church may have a different normal course of communication, so it is difficult to give specific examples, but one could presume this means a Sunday or Wednesday service or other regularly scheduled communication. It is important to clarify that this order has yet to be signed by the judge. It is proposed language agreed to by both sides, requesting that the Court settle the lawsuit. What does this mean for the church? The bottom line is that churches should not now, nor should they ever have been, worried about engaging those sitting in the pews on issues in the Bible that congregants are dealing with in their everyday lives. This is a vital part of discipling and forming believers to engage the world in a compelling and winsome way. Romans 13 reminds us that our lives are first to be submitted to God, and because of our submission to God, we submit to earthly authorities established by God. While we respect and voluntarily submit to the government, unless they are asking us to defy God, our primary allegiance is to God and His Word. Each church has the freedom to live this out according to their conscience, but the retraction we have seen in the church from “politics” over the last 70 years was never legally mandated, nor is it biblical. This new order clarifies that the church should no longer avoid issues because they might be deemed political. Our prayer is that this new order will embolden churches to engage scripture and apply it to the issues facing their congregation without fear of losing their tax-exempt status. Our prayer is that the church will boldly proclaim the Gospel and the whole truth of Scripture. More to come on this in the near future! For the Gospel, |
