During this election period, religious leaders do not need to remain silent | Opinion

Bishop Rudolph McKissick Jr., senior pastor of Bethel Church in Jacksonville, Florida, recently spoke to his church about the importance of the upcoming election and expressed his personal opinion that Vice President Kamala Harris was a better candidate for president than former -President Donald Trump. During this speech, he stated that he had consulted with a lawyer for the Harris campaign about what he could and could not say from the pulpit.

Such a statement is curious coming from the pulpit, because it shows that Bishop McKissick was worried that he might somehow say the wrong thing and, consequently, harm his church in some way.

Around the same time in Rockwall, Texas, Lakepointe Church senior pastor Josh Howerton gave a sermon titled “How to Vote Like Jesus,” in which he encouraged his congregation to vote and explained how Christians should approach voting. While never explicitly endorsing a candidate, Pastor Howerton criticized many of Harris’ political positions that he considered inconsistent with the Christian faith and praised many of Trump’s political positions, while also admitting that voting in this election would involve voting for a flawed candidate.

Although Bishop McKissick’s message was generally met with silence, Pastor Howerton’s sermon was immediately met with criticism, including a letter from a legal advocacy group called the Freedom From Religion Foundation to the Internal Revenue Service demanding that the tax-exempt status of Lakepointe was revoked for allegedly violating federal law.

It seems that situations of this type arise throughout the country every election season. As religious leaders struggle with how to approach their congregants on issues related to the intersection of faith, doctrine, and politics, some person or group inevitably complains that a church should lose its tax-exempt status for crossing the gray line. established by the IRS under a provision of the tax code known as the Johnson Amendment.

The amendment, adopted in 1954, prohibits any tax-exempt religious organization from participating in or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. Since its adoption, this tax code provision has been used to silence churches and force pastors to censor their sermons for fear that the IRS might investigate a church for allegedly violating the Johnson Amendment.

While it invariably appears that such investigations target only the conservative side of the political spectrum, houses of worship of all faiths and beliefs should take comfort in the knowledge that the First Amendment protects their rights regardless of which candidate a pastor or church feel obligated by your faith to support.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held on numerous occasions that the government cannot interfere with a church’s independence in the content of its preaching, teaching, and counseling. In fact, even involvement in an investigation into Church communications may violate the First Amendment, because any such investigation undermines the independence of religious institutions and their own determinations in matters of faith and doctrine.

In other words, the government has no business censoring the sermons and teachings of any religious entity across the country. The fact that a religious leader like Bishop McKissick felt the need to consult a lawyer before addressing his congregation demonstrates the unlawful chilling effect that the Johnson Amendment has on protected religious activity.

Constitutional issues aside, any investigations related to the Johnson Amendment are also an exercise in futility. The IRS’s own guidance recognizes that places of worship are automatically exempt from taxes, regardless of whether the IRS has formally recognized that status or not. Thus, even if the IRS were to revoke a church’s tax-exempt status, it would still be exempt from taxes due to its church status. Places of worship, therefore, need not fear this paper tiger.

As we enter the final stretch of this election season, religious people should feel encouraged to approach questions of faith and politics according to the dictates of their own consciences. The First Amendment strongly protects the right to discuss political issues through the lens of faith, and no one should allow fear of an IRS investigation to chill such activities. If the IRS starts investigating a church, synagogue, or mosque for engaging in this type of protected religious activity, you should know that you can still rely on the First Amendment to defend your God-given rights.

Ryan Gardner is an attorney at First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to defending religious freedom for all. Read more at FirstLiberty.org.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer.