IRS announces new policy regarding houses of worship and endorsement of political candidates in settlement of lawsuit challenge
Our worship services may now be as hyper-politicized as every other aspect of American life.
The IRS this week reversed 70+ years of policy barring political campaigns from invading our houses of worship. In a court filing designed to resolve a lawsuit challenging the agency’s prohibition on church electioneering as a condition of 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, the IRS announced that houses of worship may now endorse political candidates.
While the statutory restriction against participating in political campaigns applies to all 501(c)(3) organizations, the IRS announced a new interpretation that speech by a house of worship concerning “electoral politics” to its congregation does not amount to campaigning; it is merely internal communication.
From the filing:
When a house of worship in good faith speaks to its congregation, through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with religious services, concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith, it neither “participate[s]” nor “intervene[s]” in a “political campaign”… Bona fide communications internal to a house of worship … do neither of those things, any more than does a family discussion concerning candidates.
BJC’s Amanda Tyler blasted the new interpretation of the rule:
“By recasting pulpit endorsements as ‘a family discussion concerning candidates,’ the IRS upends decades of established guidance and would permit churches to take sides in electoral contests while retaining their tax-exempt status. That shift threatens to turn churches into PACs [Political Action Committees] and undermine the core mission of religious communities, which will become targets for candidates from all parties.”
The IRS has refrained from enforcing the ban on church electioneering in recent years. This announcement makes it official with respect to houses of worship while keeping the so-called “Johnson Amendment,” that portion of the tax code that prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations from opposing or endorsing candidates for office, intact.
This isn’t the first time a Trump administration has taken aim at this longstanding policy. Back in 2017, after then-President Donald Trump promised to “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment and issued an Executive Order restricting its enforcement, Congress considered repealing it during negotiations over the 2017 tax bill. BJC along with 100+ other religious groups successfully argued for its importance in protecting houses of worship, and the provision remained in place. In 2018, members of Congress opposed to the Johnson Amendment again threatened to remove it as part of the appropriations bill process, but they were unsuccessful.
Regardless of current administration policy about interpretation of the law, the prohibition on partisan activity by nonprofit organizations remains sound. For most churches and other houses of worship, avoiding partisan activity is essential for maintaining shared commitments to mission and ministries. Congregations often provide a needed respite from a polarized political culture. They should not be turned into proxies for political candidates and campaigns.
As Tyler also points out in her statement, “[p]olling consistently shows that the majority of Americans, including clergy, oppose pulpit endorsements.”
For more on this issue, see BJC’s Johnson Amendment resource page, which includes a one-page guide for churches and nonprofits on how to be advocates on issues without being partisans during any election season.
