Ron Johnson, Jr. has this commentary in U.S. News and World Report. He writes:
Who is in charge of the pulpit? The church or the IRS? That is the question that recently led me and other pastors to deliver sermons on the subject of the upcoming elections, despite tax rules used to stifle speech about candidates. The sermons were part of a broader effort, the Alliance Defense Fund’s Pulpit Initiative, which is designed to protect pastors’ First Amendment rights . . .
Erik Stanley, the head of the Pulpit Initiative, has rightly pointed out that pastors spoke freely about the policy positions of candidates for elective office throughout American history, even endorsing or opposing candidates from the pulpit, without anyone ever questioning whether churches should remain tax exempt . . .
Churches are tax exempt because they are churches, not because the government decided to bless them with a “subsidy.” The church is not a profit-making business or individual. It is not getting a pass on taxes; it is simply outside the government’s appropriate tax base . . .
Barry W. Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State has this opposing piece: A Church Should Not Be a Political Machine
“Frankly, a tax exemption is a privilege, not a right. The IRS can strip a church of its tax exemption for egregious violations of law.”
ADF Pulpit Initiative
