IRS says that churches can endorse political candidates from pulpit

The IRS said on Monday that churches will be able to endorse a political candidate to their congregations if they see fit. The move from the agency is a reversal a long-standing rule that tax-exempt nonprofits cannot be engaged in political activity. 

In a court filing to settle a lawsuit brought by two Texas churches as well as an association of Christian broadcasters, the agency said that churches could endorse political candidates, per the New York Times, writing in the filing that it would be like "a family discussion concerning candidates," and are a private matter. 

“Thus, 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 added in a motion that was jointly filed by the agency as well as the plaintiffs.

The filing asked that a federal judge bar the Trump administration as well as any other White House afterwards from reversing the rule change. The National Council of Nonprofits, which is an association representing 30,000 organizations, took issue with the move from the IRS.

The group's president Diante Yentel saying that the move was "not about religion or free speech, but about radically altering campaign finance laws. The decree could open the floodgates for political operatives to funnel money to their preferred candidates while receiving generous tax breaks at the expense of taxpayers who may not share those views.”

"It basically tells churches of all denominations and sects that you’re free to support candidates from the pulpit,” one law professor at University of Notre Dame, Hitoshi Mayer, said. He claimed also that the move would lead to candidates recruiting churches for support.