Among the most enjoyable secular rituals Dan and I partake in on behalf of the Freedom From Religion Foundation is a standing date with our summer interns, most of whom are law students, at the end of their internship. We typically ask them what their favorite project was. This year, Zoe told us she was proud of drafting a number of letters on behalf of FFRF to the IRS over flagrant church politicking, mentioning one pastor who had images of Trump all over his Hawaiian-style shirt.
Intrigued, I reviewed Zoe’s many letters sent this summer to the IRS. They paint a clear picture of why we need the Johnson Amendment, the law that prohibits tax-exempt 501(c)(3) entities from engaging in electioneering or attempting to influence elections. The IRS permits such nonprofits to speak, to some degree, to their own congregations on such topics as referenda. (However, every state has its own rules and limits regarding expenditures to influence the public on referenda, and churches, like other nonprofits, must mind their p’s and q’s.)
For what should be obvious reasons, 501(c)(3)s may not use their tax-exempt resources, amassed from donations that in turn are tax-deductible, for politicking. If I give a donation to a candidate, it ain’t tax-deductible. If I give to a church (banish the thought!) it is. Case closed.
Earlier this summer, an IRS court filing shocked the nation and most church denominations by saying that it’s now okay for churches to tell their flocks who to vote for. Never mind that many churches air their sermons over the internet, on TV and radio stations, or the emailed distribution of Sunday morning bulletins. The lawsuit prompting this filing is not yet settled, and theoretically would only apply to those two churches. But it seems that a Pandora’s box has been opened, prompting 1,000 nonprofits, including FFRF, this summer to call on President Trump and Congress to defend the Johnson Amendment.
Why do we need the Johnson Amendment? Look no further than this doozy of a violation FFRF (thanks to Zoe) reported this summer to the IRS:
• Floodgate Church in Howell, Mich., opened the political floodgates via a variety of unsubtle electioneering abuses: 1) displaying a campaign sign endorsing three local political candidates, one of whom was the pastor of the church, 2) inviting a U.S. Senate candidate to speak about her campaign at the pulpit and endorsing her, 3) posting many political endorsements on the church’s official Facebook page, including showing the pastor attending a Trump campaign. And yet another photo showed him wearing a Trump shirt while giving a sermon. One post was simply an enlargement of a ballot showing someone filling in which names to vote for!
Our intern was playing catch-up from many post-November 2024 complaints our staff hadn’t had the chance to act on. The cases below don’t reflect all of FFRF’s IRS complaints this year, but they’re representative, and grouped by major violation, since many involve multiple kinds of endorsements:
Political lawn signs/marquees
• The Bronson First Baptist Church in Bronson, Fla., displayed multiple political campaign signs on its property, which were visible to those voting next door at the Levy County Courthouse. By my count, the photo shows 11 different candidate signs, plus one on how to vote in a referendum.
• St. Thomas More Catholic Church, in Auburndale, Fla., has regularly posted political messages on its marquee, including putting up a number to text to receive a “primary voter guide.” The “guide” put out by a “conservative grassroots organization” blatantly listed everyone to vote for, by district, from member of Congress to school board to sheriff to various Florida courts.
• LifeChurch West Center, Ohio, displayed electronic political campaign signs the week of the 2024 general election endorsing not only a state representative and senator, but Donald Trump and JD Vance. These marquees were outside the church, directed at traffic.
• New Covenant Worship Center, Paragould, Ark., has displayed political campaign signs on its property for at least eight years, according to a concerned local resident. It put up a very large “Trump Vance 2024” sign next to the church marquee in August 2024 or earlier, which was still up in October 2024.
• Vida Real Interactional in Medford, Mass., displayed political signs on its property endorsing someone for registrar of deeds both in front and on the side of the church facing a highway. The church and its signs also directly face city hall, a polling site.
• St. George Orthodox Church, Wexbury, Mass., displayed multiple political campaign signs on its property, including endorsing Trump/Vance, federal and state candidates. Aside from lawn signs, one campaign sign was stapled to a telephone pole.
Political flyers/“voter guides”
• Calvary Baptist Church in Tinley Park, Ill., circulated a flyer headlined “God’s warning to voters: Vote righteously,” indicating that “righteous voting is” voting against abortion, “same sex” and “woke racism” and voting for things like “Secure Borders” and the “Right to Bear Arms.” The flyer was mailed out as a voting guide prior to the November general election.
In this case, the church breached the responsibilities of its tax-exempt status by publishing a voting guide with clear dog whistles.
• Redeeming Life Ministries, Staunton, Va., had no redeeming quality in its electioneering, which involved displaying a political campaign sign weeks before the presidential election saying “Trump Vance.” It also posted to its website an alleged election guide with biased language, such as the claim that Kamala Harris “opposes religious liberty.”
Candidates speaking and/or endorsed or opposed in church
• Calvary Chapel Belfast of Maine invited four political candidates to the pulpit one week before an election to discuss their campaigns for the Maine House of Representatives, during which time the pastor could be heard audibly agreeing and amen’ing to their statements. Pastor Greg Huston then asked the church audience to pray with him: “We have to get out there … and vote to lift this crew.”
Postscript: After the election, the pastor crowed that it was his idea to invite the candidates, saying how happy he was that three of them won, along with Trump, since they are “good for Christians.”
• Graceview Church in Southaven, Miss., advertised on its Facebook page that it was hosting an event for the DeSoto County Chapter of the Conservative Caucus of Mississippi, where the lead pastor spoke about “the top 10 bad policies to expect of a Harris administration.” The church apparently hosted the caucus once a month.
• The pastor at Lake Mary Church, Fla., introduced and welcomed two political candidates to the pulpit during his sermon to speak about their campaigns, mentioned they were congregation members and encouraged church members to vote for them because “we know that they will represent godly values in our community.” He then asked the congregation to join him in prayer for the candidates.
• OneWay Christian Church, Green Bay, Wis., sponsored an “Evening with Tony Weid,” a congressional candidate, on Oct. 28, 2024, one week before the general election, which it marketed on its Facebook page as “a night of ballot chasing” (collecting absentee or mail-in ballots by third parties). Pastor David Roth, who hosted, cited the “importance of Christians voting with a biblical worldview.” After Weid’s campaign speech, Roth led the congregation in prayer for the candidate, beseeching, “Oh Father, let us be engaged by electing public officials such as Tony.”
• The pastor of Trinity Community Church, Clovis, Calif., gave a sermon repeatedly opposing Kamala Harris for president, saying the Democratic Party “has one of the most anti-life, anti-biblical platforms that ever was in the United States.” Pastor Andrei Sava said, “We’re not voting for Jesus, but definitely we have a Jezebel on the ballot.”
It’s been heartening that the Catholic bishops, the Mormon church and many other denominations have come out in support of the Johnson Amendment, not wanting to mix politics with their worship.
But if the Johnson Amendment is allowed to fall, or be eroded bit by bit thanks to IRS sycophants falling in line with the president, remember this:
There are between 300,000 and 400,000 U.S. churches, averaging about 113 per county, which translates to one congregation for every thousand Americans. This compares to approximately 13,400 McDonald’s and 16,000 Starbucks locations. There are approximately 1,800 megachurches, most of which are evangelical. Almost a quarter of the population is evangelical (we “Nones” outnumber them at 29 percent). It’s the Southern Baptists (the largest Protestant denomination) and conservative nondenominational churches that are chomping at the bit to overturn the Johnson Amendment.
If you are dismayed about what dark money has done to U.S. elections, you haven’t seen anything like what would happen if we ever have “stained glass” money.
FFRF has successfully sued in the past to prompt the IRS to conduct investigations and to compel the Trump I administration to acknowledge that the president doesn’t have the power to overturn the Johnson Amendment by executive order. But we’re in uncharted waters with the Trump II administration. As FFRF continues to learn about often-outrageous and overt electioneering by churches, we’ll continue to send letters requesting that the IRS investigate. Please read FFRF’s brochure, “Preserve the Johnson Amendment,” and speak up in letters to the editor, to Congress and in social media to defend this vital law to ensure nonprofits, including churches, do not become conduits for partisan politics.
(With thanks to Matt Langer, intake assistant, for his help, and intake attorney Maddy Ziegler, who writes the bulk of FFRF letters about frequent-offender churches.)
Disclaimer: The views in this column are of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
One Response
I appreciate this summary.
One quibble. “Dog whistles” are allowed if the voting guides are only promoting issues.
A church cannot endorse a candidate, including an anti-war candidate. It can say “don’t vote for war.”
Church doctrine is likely going to be sympathetic to certain candidates. Nearly all of your list, however, clearly flags actual endorsements. Definitely a “no no.”