Since the start of his first term, President Donald Trump has been on a mission to “totally destroy the Johnson Amendment,” a law that prevents houses of worship and other nonprofits from formally endorsing or opposing political candidates. On Monday, Internal Revenue Service Administrator Billy Long delivered a powerful blow to this critical firewall between politics and organized religion.
The Trump administration is reinterpreting — effectively ignoring — a law passed by Congress in 1954.
The IRS wrote in a new court filing that it had jointly agreed with two Texas churches and an association of Christian broadcasters that sued the IRS that religious institutions should be exempt from the Johnson Amendment’s prohibition on endorsing candidates. The prohibition, introduced in 1954 by the-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, would remain in place for other 501(c)(3) tax exempt organizations.
With this move, the Trump administration is advancing its own political interests by crudely reinterpreting — effectively ignoring — a law passed by Congress in 1954. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers celebrated the IRS’s move as a “a victory for religious liberty for people of faith across the country.”
To the contrary, religious Americans largely reject attempts to bring partisanship into our houses of worship because we want to keep them focused on the missions they are intended to serve. Houses of worship are among the few places in our society where people of all political stripes can come together, seek meaning and love their neighbors side by side. They are largely safe havens from the caustic partisanship that divides the nation. Turning houses of worship into outposts of political campaigns will severely inhibit congregations from welcoming all people who seek them out — and from bringing people together instead of tearing them apart.
According to a poll by the Public Religion Research Institute taken when Trump was denouncing the Johnson Amendment during his first term, 71% of Americans opposed allowing churches and places of worship to endorse political candidates while retaining their tax-exempt status. That included majorities of every major religious group in the country: 56% of white evangelicals, 69% of Catholics, 72% of white mainline Protestants and 76% of Black Protestants.
Religious leaders, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, immediately rebuked the IRS’s filing. “The Church seeks to help Catholics form their conscience in the Gospel so they might discern which candidates and policies would advance the common good,” USCCB spokesperson Chieko Noguchi said on its website. “The Catholic Church maintains its stance of not endorsing or opposing political candidates.”
“Permitting synagogues and other houses of worship to endorse or oppose candidates undercuts the integrity and unity of these religious institutions, turning them into an extension of political candidates or parties,” said Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. “During a time of intense political polarization, we continue to support our rabbis’ and cantors’ abilities to lead diverse congregations with moral courage.”
While the filing only directly impacts two Texas churches and the National Religious Broadcasters, the legal reasoning behind it upends a core tenet of church-state separation and will have far-reaching consequences for campaign finance and for the independence of religious institutions. There will now be immense pressure on churches and other houses of worship, especially from MAGA-aligned politicians and religious activists who fought for this change, to openly endorse candidates.
When Trump made repeal of the Johnson Amendment a top priority in 2017, more than 4,000 faith leaders and more than 100 religious organizations called on Congress to refuse to follow his command. Congress listened, and an attempt in 2018 to repeal the Johnson Amendment failed. Now the Trump administration is going ahead with gutting the important law anyway by weaponizing its executive power and effectively ignoring Congress and the public.
It upends a core tenet of church-state separation and will have far-reaching consequences.
Houses of worship have always played an important role in public life, including advocating for all types of important public policy matters throughout American history. This is a critical part of what it means to live your faith in public — but the power to do so is built on religious institutions maintaining independence from the partisan political fray. These institutions surrender an incredible amount of moral currency and civic independence when they officially endorse politicians.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a civil rights revolution from the pulpit by preaching justice and urging voter participation, all while refusing to make partisan endorsements.
“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state,” King said during his “A Knock at Midnight” sermon in 1967 in Cincinnati. “It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.” More partisan politics in houses of worship won’t just lead to the exploitation of sanctuaries for campaign votes — but it will also potentially tempt those houses of worship with money in a way that would degrade their ministries. Political operatives could funnel money to their preferred candidates by routing it through compliant churches — all while the donors reap tax breaks for their contributions. It’s a cynical end-run around election finance rules that could effectively turn some churches into shadow campaign offices. The strongest argument in the IRS legal filing supporting its reinterpretation of the law is that the IRS is already not enforcing the law. So, in essence, nothing will change by them announcing this publicly in court. “As recounted in Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint, the IRS generally has not enforced the Johnson Amendment against houses of worship for speech concerning electoral politics in the context of worship services,” the IRS filing says. It’s one thing for churches to break the law and get away with it; it’s another thing for Trump’s IRS to give them free rein. It’s a startling admission by the government that the law has generally not been enforced. Even so, we should all fear that an official green light to houses of worship to engage in partisan politics will make things worse. It’s one thing for churches to break the law and get away with it; it’s another thing for Trump’s IRS to give them free rein. And this new freedom to endorse from the pulpit will come alongside a heavy dose of coercion from Trump and his allies, including those who might belong to a particular congregation. Clergy won’t be able to say the IRS won’t let them endorse a candidate, so will be more susceptible to pressure. Religious denominations and leaders must now speak out forcefully against pulpit endorsements as a counterweight. The Johnson Amendment has served our religious freedom tradition, keeping our sanctuaries spiritually focused and politically neutral for more than 70 years. By inviting partisan politics into our pews, the Trump administration’s IRS is eroding the healthy boundary between church and state that protects our democracy and the integrity of faith communities.
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons is vice president of programs and strategy at Interfaith Alliance and the author of "Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity." 
