Johnson Amendment Dead: IRS says church leaders can endorse candidates to their flock without risking tax-exempt status. Other 501c3's still can't.

essentialsaltes · Tuesday at 3:56 PM

I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit

In a court filing, the tax agency said a decades-old ban on campaigning by tax-exempt groups should not apply to houses of worship speaking to their own members.

The I.R.S. said on Monday that churches and other houses of worship can endorse political candidates to their congregations, carving out an exemption in a decades-old ban on political activity by tax-exempt nonprofits.

The agency made that statement in a court filing intended to settle a lawsuit filed by two Texas churches and an association of Christian broadcasters.

The agency said that if a house of worship endorsed a candidate to its congregants, the I.R.S. would view that not as campaigning but as a private matter, like “a family discussion concerning candidates.”

“Thus, communications 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 agency said, in a motion filed jointly with the plaintiffs.

The ban on campaigning by nonprofits is named after former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who introduced it as a senator in 1954. President Trump has repeatedly called for its repeal.

Per Wiki: The amendment was to a bill in the 83rd Congress, H.R. 8300, which was enacted into law as the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

I gather this means churches can't run ads in the NYTimes with endorsements, but who knows, when decades old laws can be set aside.

FAITH-IN-HIM · Tuesday at 4:25 PM

"‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers"

Vambram · Tuesday at 4:38 PM

FAITH-IN-HIM said:
"‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers"

Previously in past elections, did you disagree with allowing politicians to speak and campaign in churches to an assembled congregation?

Fantine · Tuesday at 4:57 PM

FAITH-IN-HIM said:
"‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers"

Or a den endorsing robbers...like those committing hundreds of millions in tax fraud.

Maria Billingsley · Tuesday at 4:58 PM

essentialsaltes said:
I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit
In a court filing, the tax agency said a decades-old ban on campaigning by tax-exempt groups should not apply to houses of worship speaking to their own members.

The I.R.S. said on Monday that churches and other houses of worship can endorse political candidates to their congregations, carving out an exemption in a decades-old ban on political activity by tax-exempt nonprofits.

The agency made that statement in a court filing intended to settle a lawsuit filed by two Texas churches and an association of Christian broadcasters.

The agency said that if a house of worship endorsed a candidate to its congregants, the I.R.S. would view that not as campaigning but as a private matter, like “a family discussion concerning candidates.”

“Thus, communications 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 agency said, in a motion filed jointly with the plaintiffs.

The ban on campaigning by nonprofits is named after former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who introduced it as a senator in 1954. President Trump has repeatedly called for its repeal.

Per Wiki: The amendment was to a bill in the 83rd Congress, H.R. 8300, which was enacted into law as the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

I gather this means churches can't run ads in the NYTimes with endorsements, but who knows, when decades old laws can be set aside.

Nothing like replacing Jesus Christ of Nazareth with a political figure! Reminds me of the many, many many pagan cultures who did the same.
Pagan cultures that come to mind are ancient Rome, Egypt, and Hellenistic Greece, they often deified their rulers, worshipping them as gods or demigods. This practice reinforced political power and fostered loyalty.
Deception is really deep now.
Blessings

Fantine · Tuesday at 4:59 PM

Even the evangelical churches have about 18% of their members who do not vote Republican or endorse Trump.
Those 18% of members might decide to find a different place of worship if their pastor encourage them to vote for a 34 times convicted felon who has incited insurrections and abandoned the Constitution. I sure would.

GoldenBoy89 · Tuesday at 5:28 PM

My family and I now identify as a church. Give me tax exemption!

iluvatar5150 · Tuesday at 5:30 PM

Vambram said:
Previously in past elections, did you disagree with allowing politicians to speak and campaign in churches to an assembled congregation?

I did.

chevyontheriver · Tuesday at 6:23 PM

GoldenBoy89 said:
My family and I now identify as a church. Give me tax exemption!

What? Is your last name Phelps?

ozso · Tuesday at 7:15 PM

Fantine said:
Even the evangelical churches have about 18% of their members who do not vote Republican or endorse Trump.
Those 18% of members might decide to find a different place of worship if their pastor encourage them to vote for a 34 times convicted felon who has incited insurrections and abandoned the Constitution. I sure would.

Yes, it's become a sad state of affairs when even a 34 times convicted felon who has incited insurrections and abandoned the Constitution, is still preferable to a Democrat.

seeking.IAM · Tuesday at 9:18 PM

Endorsing candidates from the pulpit seems like a sure-fired way to lose pledging units. My pledge and I would walk if I attended a church where any candidate was endorsed from the pulpit, irrespective of their party. It's not the kind of church I want to be a part of.

Fantine · Tuesday at 9:33 PM

ozso said:
Yes, it's become a sad state of affairs when even a 34 times convicted felon who has incited insurrections and abandoned the Constitution, is still preferable to a Democrat.

Are you referring to the lack of discernment, susceptibility to manipulation, and overreaction to hyperbolic appeals to racism and xenophobia that 49.9% of the American public apparently fell prey to?

Fantine · Tuesday at 9:42 PM

Best sermon I ever heard was one month before November, 2016. Pastor read an excerpt from an article in U.S. Catholic.
Here is what Pope Francis said about conscience:

“We must force ourselves to grow into an inclusive and incarnate discernment, which dialogues with the consciences of the faithful — that are to be formed and not replaced in a process of patient and courageous accompaniment. . .

“Authentic discernment. . .is a process that is always open. . .[It] does not reduce itself to the repetition of formulas that ‘like high clouds release little rain’ to the concrete person, [and] are often immersed in an inflexible reality of black and white.

“The pastor is to make emerge what God wants to realize in every moment.”s called to make available to the flock the grce of the Spirit, which knows how to penetrate the folds of reality and take account of its hues and shade.

I know an organist whose Catholic pastor put up a "Bush" sign in the rectory yard and made all the parish employees sign a promise they would only vote for a "pro-life" candidate. Because the organist had a very wholistic, all-encompassing view of what being pro-life really was, he quit that parish and quickly became the organist in a much larger one. Good for him!

Pastors who endorse candidates will lose many in their congregations--as they should.

chevyontheriver · Tuesday at 10:05 PM

Fantine said:
Are you referring to the lack of discernment, susceptibility to manipulation, and overreaction to hyperbolic appeals to racism and xenophobia that 49.9% of the American public apparently fell prey to?

You really do have a low opinion of half of the electorate. Cheers!

ozso · Tuesday at 10:17 PM

Fantine said:
Are you referring to the lack of discernment, susceptibility to manipulation, and overreaction to hyperbolic appeals to racism and xenophobia that 49.9% of the American public apparently fell prey to?

No, I wasn't referring to that Democrat coping mechanism.

ozso · Tuesday at 10:29 PM

chevyontheriver said:
You really do have a low opinion of half of the electorate. Cheers!

It's 49.9%! Which is 0.1% less than half! Harris otoh received 48.4%!, which is... um I gotta go now, catch ya later.

chevyontheriver · Tuesday at 10:33 PM

ozso said:
It's 49.9%! Which is 0.1% less than half! Harris otoh received 48.4%!, which is... um I gotta go now, catch ya later.

I guess between the two it shows that some of us actually did not vote for either of them.

ozso · Tuesday at 10:42 PM

chevyontheriver said:
I guess between the two it shows that some of us actually did not vote for either of them.

Fantine · Tuesday at 11:28 PM

ozso said:
No, I wasn't referring to that Democrat coping mechanism.

Only one major candidate exploited xenophobic and racist fears.

ozso · Wednesday at 12:07 AM

Fantine said:
Only one major candidate exploited xenophobic and racist fears.

It's more like only one side exploited the fear of being branded a racist and xenophobe for voting against them.

Johnson Amendment Dead: IRS says church leaders can endorse candidates to their flock without risking tax-exempt status. Other 501c3's still can't.

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