adf.jpgOne of my recent poll questions was on the pastors’ revolt planned by the Alliance Defense Fund to challenge an IRS tax code that disallows churches and pastors from expressing opinions on political candidates.
I spoke with Erik Stanley a couple times this week, ADF’s attorney heading up the initiative, and got more information….


Challenged will be a 1954 change in the tax code called the Johnson Amendment, after then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson.
Johnson, known for his mean streak, proposed the amendment to silence vocal opponents to his next Senate race. Two nonprofit foundations were pouring money into a publicity campaign calling Johnson soft on Communism. As an aside, I found the interesting vintage photo below of Johnson shouting at a heckler during his 1960 campaign with Kennedy.
johnson shouting.jpg
There is no legislative history on the Johnson Amendment. According to the scant Senate record, Johnson stood up on the floor and proposed it as an attachment to an existing bill. After Johnson said the bill sponsor was in agreement, the Speaker simply called for a voice vote. There was no debate.
Prior to 1954, churches were free to evaluate political candidates’ positions on moral issues without fear the IRS would revoke their tax-exempt status.
The ramifications to the Johnson Amendment have been sweeping and catastrophic to the mission of the Church.
au.jpgRev. Barry Lynn and his Americans United for the Separation of Church and State rely on this amendment to intimidate churches and pastors from expressing any opinion on political issues.
Many churches and pastors, wanting to live the Biblical priniciple of behaving “above reproach,” have overreacted to avoid criticism and are today silent on even topics this amendment does not implicate, such as abortion.
Meanwhile, in over 50 years since this code was enacted, the IRS has only prosecuted 1 church. This was the Church at Pierce Creek in NY that sponsored a newspaper ad in 1992 opposing Bill Clinton for president.
irs.gif But the IRS has remained vague on when a nonprofit might cross the line, adding to the paranoia. And in 2004 it stepped up investigations by creating the Political Activities Compliance Initiative after receiving complaints it was not enforcing or selectivelyenforcing the code. In 2006 the IRS increased the length of time per year the PACI committee meets. The IRS refuses to name the churches it is investigating.
ADF will challenge 1 specific part of the code, the prohibition of a pastor to speak from the pulpit about views on political candidates. ADF considers this a violation of a pastor’s First Amendment rights. This has never been challenged in court.
On Sunday, September 28, approximately 50 pastors the ADF has chosen from volunteers nationwide will preach sermons to provoke the IRS on this point. This would immediately invoke a lawsuit that would find its way to the US Supreme Court.
barry lynn.jpgIn a press release condemning the plan as “deplorable” and “worldly, AU’s Lynn stated, “I assume the ADF will provide a list of congregations unwise enough to join this move, and we’ll be ready to report those churches to the IRS.”
Barry, ADF is planning 1 better – no, 2 better. It plans to give you videotapes of the sermons as well as the IRS.
The Palm Beach Post posted a good op ed on this on May 16, which stated in part:

The government can regulate – and tax – not-for-profit political action committees, but tax-exempt status for religious institutions is based on the First Amendment, not on a law passed in 1954. Congress cannot overrule the First Amendment protection of the free exercise of religion in its effort to regulate other not-for-profits….
This Supreme Court may well find for the church regardless of the merits of its case.

Pastors and/or churches interested in participating in the September 28 revolt can find more information here.

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