Two churches and a religious group sued the IRS in 2024, saying their First Amendment rights were violated by the ban on endorsing candidates in elections.

The move upends a 70-year-old interpretation of the U.S. tax code, whose Johnson Amendment has barred certain non-profit groups, including churches, from endorsing political candidates without putting their tax-exempt status in jeopardy.

President Donald Trump has long called for Johnson Amendment to be repealed.

“Communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted,” the IRS said in the joint filing Monday with the National Religious Broadcasters group in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.worldEnglish
    182·
    3 days ago

    sigh of course. Honestly, this is on the dems too. When they were in power they could’ve nipped this thing in the bud. Ah well. Too late now.

    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      “Why didn’t democrats double-stamp the triple-stamp? A law would be so much sturdier than the Bill of Rights!”

      Shut up.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      Nah, they couldn’t have. Imagine the howls of outrage such an “attack” on the church would raise. No politician would survive that.

  • stupidcasey@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    3 days ago

    Holy fuck, I always wondered why the Church I went to as a kid taught it was a sin to get involved in politics, it was to maintain there Tax Exempt Status.

  • x00z@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    3 days ago

    The Church is a pretty strong backer so it’s not that weird a dictator would give them more power so he can benefit from that.