President Donald Trump praised the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for its decision to allow churches to endorse political candidates, stating that he loves “that churches can now” make political endorsements.
When asked by a reporter on Wednesday what his “reaction” was to the IRS’s decision, Trump explained that his administration has “a lot of respect for the people that lead the church.” Trump added that “if somebody of faith wants” to make a political endorsement, it is something he would “like to hear.”
“The IRS says that churches can now endorse political candidates,” the reporter said. “What’s your reaction to this, and how do you expect this to influence some of the work that’s afoot on the continent? There’s a lot of American churches that are doing missionary work on the continent. Do you support that?”
“I love the fact that churches can endorse a political candidate,” Trump answered. “I think so, because we have a lot of respect for the people that lead the church — the pastors, and the ministers, and the rabbis, and all different leaders, all different religions, and people respect those people, and I think there’s nothing wrong.”
Trump continued to explain that under the Johnson Amendment, churches faced a “very big penalty” for making political endorsements of candidates.
Trump’s comments come after the IRS said in court documents on Monday that churches should be allowed to endorse political candidates. The decision from the IRS in court filings came in regard to a lawsuit between “two Texas churches and an association of Christian broadcasters” that sued the IRS and asked a federal court “to rule that all nonprofits, religious and secular,” could make political endorsements, according to the New York Times:
The agency made that statement in a court filing intended to settle a lawsuit filed by two Texas churches and an association of Christian broadcasters.
The plaintiffs that sued the Internal Revenue Service had previously asked a federal court in Texas to create an even broader exemption — to rule that all nonprofits, religious and secular, were free to endorse candidates to their members. That would have erased a bedrock idea of American nonprofit law: that tax-exempt groups cannot be used as tools of any campaign.
Per the IRS website: “In 1954, Congress approved an amendment” by then-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson “to prohibit 601(c)(3) organizations, which includes charities and churches, from engaging in any political campaign activity.”
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