Government has no business telling a preacher what to preach on Sunday morning, especially on politics. Congress needs to step up and ensure the law reflects that, once and for all.
This article is a lightly edited transcript of the “Here’s the Point” podcast by Ryan Helfenbein, executive director of the Standing for Freedom Center, which is included on this page.
The Department of Justice Religious Liberty Commission just held hearings on the Johnson Amendment. What did we learn? And why does it matter for churches?
Last week, Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas testified before the DOJ’s Religious Liberty Commission about his church’s experience with IRS harassment under the Biden administration. The testimony comes just five months after the IRS announced that it would no longer enforce the Johnson Amendment against churches speaking to their congregations about electoral politics “viewed through the lens of faith.”
But here’s what many missed: That July consent judgment didn’t repeal the Johnson Amendment. It only meant the IRS wouldn’t enforce it against churches. The law remains on the books. And as Jeffress’s testimony proves, selective enforcement and intimidation continued right up until the end of the Biden administration era.
Jeffress recounted how the atheist legal organization Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a complaint with the IRS in 2021 after Vice President Mike Pence spoke at First Baptist Church Dallas during a worship service. The IRS then launched a year-long examination of the church, demanding extensive documentation and financial records. All because a government official attended their church. In November 2021 of the same year, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared by video to endorse Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe in more than 300 churches in Virginia.
Now make no mistake: The Biden-Harris administration weaponized the Johnson Amendment to attack religious freedom — and particularly on the right. While the IRS eventually acknowledged in July 2022 that First Baptist Dallas “did not engage in any improper political intervention,” the damage was done. As Jeffress testified, while his 157-year-old church could afford hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, most churches cannot afford those fees. And that’s the problem.
Here’s the critical point Jeffress made: “It’s none of the government’s business to regulate the content of sermons that pastors preach from the pulpit.” The IRS and any government agency lack the ability to distinguish between political speech and deeply held theological convictions.
So how should Christians think about this? Here’s the Point.
First, we need more than IRS non-enforcement — we need congressional repeal. The July consent judgment was a step in the right direction, but it’s not been decided and it’s not enough. Non-enforcement of the Johnson Amendment by a federal agency can change with the next administration. We need the law repealed entirely.
Republican lawmakers are already acting. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., reintroduced the Free Speech Fairness Act in March, which would stop the IRS from enforcing the Johnson Amendment against churches and other nonprofits. The House passed it in March; a companion bill, however, sits in the Senate committee right now.
Second, the historic pattern of selective enforcement proves why repeal is necessary. For decades, organizations like Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition utilized churches for get-out-the-vote efforts, endorsing candidates regularly without legal or tax consequences. Yet conservative churches faced IRS scrutiny for hosting political speakers or addressing moral issues with political implications.
Jeffress pointed to the case of Christians Engaged, a Christian voter education group that the IRS denied tax-exempt status in May 2021 because of their biblical convictions on abortion and marriage. While the government eventually allowed tax-exempt status to go through after public backlash, the initial decision not to revealed just how easily the government equates biblical beliefs and theological convictions with prohibited political speech.
Finally, pastors must understand what’s at stake. God called pastors to preach the truth with prophetic courage about the multi-frontline cultural issues of our day. This includes applying God’s moral law to policies that have political implications.
The First Amendment explicitly protects freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion. Not speech that Democrats or Republicans all agree with and not religious liberty only so evangelical conservatives have to check their worldview at the door.
Marriage is not mentioned once in the Constitution, but religious liberty is front and center. Religious liberty is actually what initially championed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1994.
When the government threatens churches for hosting political speakers, questions their biblical convictions, or forces them to self-censor to avoid litigation, that’s not protecting democracy — that’s threatening constitutional freedom.
Can churches endorse candidates? Well, under the July consent judgment, they would be able to. Should churches endorse candidates? That’s a matter of wisdom and pastoral judgment. But should pastors be free to preach biblical truth on every issue without government intimidation? Absolutely — and without question.
The excuse for silence is not just gone, it’s being dismantled piece by piece. First through IRS non-enforcement, and hopefully, one day through congressional action towards full repeal of the Johnson Amendment.
And pastors are called to preach the whole counsel of God. And everyone from Joseph to Moses to King David to Elijah and Daniel to John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John — they all knew that faith inevitably challenges government authority to greater accountability before God.
Government has no business telling a preacher what to preach on Sunday morning, especially on politics. It’s time to make the law reflect that, once and for all.
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