In 1954 then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson was running for re-election to the U.S. Senate. In order to neutralize opposition from two nonprofit groups who accused him of being a communist, Johnson introduced an amendment to the Internal Revenue Service code–the Johnson Amendment–which prohibited non-profit groups from endorsing political candidates. This legislation had far reaching effects not only on non-profits, but churches, synagogues, and other houses of worship. Before enactment of the Johnson Amendment, religious leaders were free to endorse or oppose candidates for office. Churches registered as 501 organizations under the tax code are subject to revocation of their tax-exempt status should the IRS rule that they violated the political speech prohibition. Alliance Defending Freedom opposes the Johnson Amendment. Its position is explained: "Churches are not tax-exempt because of some bargain they make with the government. Being tax-exempt is part of freedom of religion; otherwise the government could tax churches out of existence. Now the government is telling churches you can be tax-exempt if you don't speak out on a certain topic". In 2017 the Free Speech Fairness Act was introduced in the United States House of Representatives. The legislation proposes to permit political speech in churches. ADF supports passage of the bill.
History
In 2008 ADF launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday with 35 churches—including several mega-churches–to directly challenge the Johnson Amendment. In acts of civil disobedience, pastors give sermons on "blatantly political" topics, which may include providing "biblical perspectives" on or endorsements of particular candidates, in defiance of IRS regulations and in hopes of triggering a First Amendment court challenge to the provisions. The 2008 event included Minnesota reverend Gus Booth, who encouraged his congregation to vote in the 2008 United States presidential election for Senator John McCain, and prohibited them from voting for Senator Barack Obama because of his position on abortion. By 2014 participation in the event had grown to over 1,800 pastors. That brought total participation since 2008 to more than 3,800 pastors. At the same time the IRS indicated that it would ramp up enforcement of the prohibition against candidate endorsement at churches.
