Tyler: ‘Politicizing churches does them no favors’
For Immediate Release
February 2, 2017
Media contact: Cherilyn Crowe / [email protected] / 202-544-4226 / Cell: 202-670-5877
This morning, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty responded to comments made by President Donald Trump during the National Prayer Breakfast. Referring to an IRS rule that applies to all 501(c)(3) organizations, he vowed to “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment.”
BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler issued the following response:
“Politicizing churches does them no favors. The promised repeal is an attack on the integrity of both our charitable organizations and campaign finance system.
Inviting churches to intervene in campaigns with tax-deductible offerings would fundamentally change our houses of worship. It would usher our partisan divisions into the pews and harm the church’s ability to provide refuge.
To change the law would hinder the church’s prophetic witness, threatening to turn pulpit prophets into political puppets.”
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Based in Washington, D.C., the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty is a religiously based organization working to defend religious freedom for all people and protect the separation of church and state in the historic Baptist tradition. Learn more at BJConline.org.
UPDATE: On Feb. 9, Amanda Tyler wrote a column on this topic for Religion News Service: Politicize our charities and churches? No, thanks.
