• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
ReligiousLiberty.TV / Founders' First Freedom®

ReligiousLiberty.TV / Founders' First Freedom®

religious liberty and religious freedom news

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Articles
  • Podcast
Home » Trump order essentially affirms Johnson Amendment

Trump order essentially affirms Johnson Amendment

May 8, 2017 by ReligiousLiberty.TV

The White House building in Washington, DC–© AndreyKr- DepositPhotos.com

The White House building in Washington, DC–© AndreyKr- DepositPhotos.com

 

Last Thursday, President Donald Trump marked the National Day of Prayer with an executive order that at most expressed the administration’s desire that the Department of the Treasury should not unnecessarily threaten the tax-exempt status of religious non-profit organizations if they engage in political activity. Despite stating during the campaign that he would “destroy” the Johnson Amendment, the administration ultimately made a benign gesture affirming existing law while describing its parameters and limits.

The text of the May 4 order reads as follows:

Sec. 2. Respecting Religious and Political Speech. All executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall, to the greatest extent practicable and to the extent permitted by law, respect and protect the freedom of persons and organizations to engage in religious and political speech. In particular, the Secretary of the Treasury shall ensure, to the extent permitted by law, that the Department of the Treasury does not take any adverse action against any individual, house of worship, or other religious organization on the basis that such individual or organization speaks or has spoken about moral or political issues from a religious perspective, where speech of similar character has, consistent with law, not ordinarily been treated as participation or intervention in a political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) a candidate for public office by the Department of the Treasury. As used in this section, the term “adverse action” means the imposition of any tax or tax penalty; the delay or denial of tax-exempt status; the disallowance of tax deductions for contributions made to entities exempted from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of title 26, United States Code; or any other action that makes unavailable or denies any tax deduction, exemption, credit, or benefit.

Analysis:

The key phrase “to the extent permitted by law” appears twice. First, Federal agencies need to “respect and protect the freedom of persons and organizations to engage in religious and political speech.” Secondly, the Department of the Treasury should not take “adverse action” against religious organizations or individuals because of what they have said about moral or political issues.

The inclusion of the phrase “to the extent permitted by law” is a signal that the order is not intended to overturn the Johnson Amendment or other federal laws, but rather to define what the administrations believes to be the parameter of those laws.

The order mostly leaves the Johnson Amendment intact, affirming the prohibition of tax-exempt organizations from endorsing specific candidates. According to the order, the government can continue to challenge the tax-exempt status of organizations that engage in “participation or intervention in a political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) a candidate for public office.”

In recent months members of Congress have introduced legislation that would go much farther than this, fundamentally changing the law by permitting churches to engage in political campaigning while maintaining their tax-exempt status. The Trump order wisely does not go this far.

Instead, the Trump order underscores the right of non-profit religious organizations to speak to the moral or political issues of the day without fear of losing their tax-exempt status. The only thing they cannot do is engage in direct campaigning on behalf of or against particular candidates. 

Although the ACLU had prepared to file a lawsuit in anticipation of a more sweeping order, the civil rights organization decided against it because the order does not change the existing law. However, the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) did file a lawsuit claiming that because the order only mentioned religious organizations and not secular non-profits, and as such the order violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The FFRF lawsuit is not likely to get past the initial stages because there is no evidence of selective enforcement of the Johnson Amendment and no “live” case upon which to base such a challenge although it is likely to achieve a lot of attention. Both the ACLU and FFRF are 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations and the Trump order presumably protects their right to advocate on moral and political issues as well, but if they engage in partisan politicking on behalf of or against particular candidates they too could find their tax-exempt status in jeopardy.

For now, the best practice for non-profits is to stick to the issues and avoid ad hominem arguments.

 

Photo credit: AndreyKr – DepositPhotos.com

Filed Under: Church and State, Constitution, Free Speech Tagged With: Donald Trump, executive order, Johnson Amendment, religious freedom, religious liberty

Primary Sidebar

Geneva, Switzerland - December 03, 2019: World Health Organization (WHO / OMS) Headquarters - DepositPhotos.com

Biden admin could hand over US control of health emergencies to WHO next week

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The ultimate control over America’s health care and its national sovereignty will be put up for a vote next week at a meeting of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) governing legislative body, the World Health Assembly (WHA).  On May 22-28, 2022, the 75th World Health Assembly will convene at the United Nations […]

Statement on the Leak in Dobbs

The leak was intended to disrupt the processing of the decision and we are not going to dignify the leak or the unidentified leaker by analyzing it prematurely. As a constitutional republic we cannot go down that road without doing severe damage to the institution of the Supreme Court where there must be professional courtesy between the justices and their staffs.

Boston City Hall - photo from Supreme Court Opinion

Supreme Court rules 9-0 that Boston violated 1st Amendment in refusing Christian flag at City Hall

This morning the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Shurtleff v. Boston (Dec’d 5/2/2022) that the city of Boston violated the free speech rights of a Christian group when it refused to allow them to participate in a city flag raising program.

Active Liberty - a survey of Justice Stephen Breyer's religion clause jurisprudence - Supreme Court

Active Liberty: A Survey of Justice Stephen Breyer’s Religion Clause Decisions

A comprehensive review of retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s decisions in Free Exercise and Establishment Clause cases.

Canadian gov’t calculates that expansion of assisted suicide will save taxpayers millions of dollars

In Canada, it is easier for the disabled who do not suffer terminal illness to get approval for assisted suicide than approval for affordable housing. The government has calculated the cost of providing healthcare versus providing assisted suicide.

Random Quote

These establishments metamorphose the church into a creature, and religion into a principle of state, which has a natural tendency to make men conclude that Bible religion is nothing but a trick of state.

— John Leland

Get the ReligiousLiberty.TV Newsletter!

Comes out a couple of times a month. Unsubscribe anytime automatically, no questions asked.
* = required field
unsubscribe from list

powered by MailChimp!

Copyright © 2022 Founders' First Freedom is a registered trademark. All rights reserved.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Articles
  • Podcast
0
0
0
0