Episcopal leaders, including four bishops, were unequivocal in their opposition to an Internal Revenue Service declaration allowing churches to endorse political candidates without risking their tax-exempt status.
The statement surfaced on July 7 in a court filing in which the agency said that when a house of worship speaks to its congregation “concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith,” the entity “neither participates nor intervenes in a political campaign.”
It added that the practice does not “run afoul of the Johnson Amendment.”
The amendment, named after former President Lyndon Johnson, who introduced the guideline as a senator in 1954, prohibits tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. The rule is enshrined in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, which inspired the term used to refer to a nonprofit organization that receives donations that are deemed tax deductible.
According to Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, the nation’s largest network of nonprofits with over 25,000 members, undermining the Johnson Amendment that protects the nonpartisan nature of nonprofits could “severely damage the integrity and effectiveness of the entire sector.”
A 2022 survey by Pew Research shows that 77 percent of U.S. adults opposed churches endorsing political candidates.
“Jesus was political but not partisan,” Bishop Elizabeth Bonforte Gardner of Nevada told TLC. “We are to preach the gospel and inspire our congregations to bring about the kingdom of God. Endorsing candidates or political ideologies from the pulpit is, in my opinion, not what we are called to do. Ever.”
Bishop Poulson Reed of Oklahoma urged clergy and congregations to refrain from such endorsements in a pastoral letter, which was highlighted earlier on TLC.
“Our congregations consist of members of good faith from both political parties, as well as many independents. Ours is not a blue or red diocese, but a purple one, and above all, a Christian one,” Reed said.
“Friendship in Christ across difference is one of our God-given gifts, and bringing partisan politics further into our sacred communities threatens that gift, opening the door to the bitter division all too present in our wider culture.”
Yentel warned that the IRS change in policy “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.”
“With respect to this IRS change, I’d like to see what can be learned about whose idea it was,” Bishop John Taylor of Los Angeles told TLC. “If it’s someone currently in power angling for more votes from the faithful, it should be sent back to the drawing board.”
Before his ordination as a priest in 2004, Taylor served as chief of staff for the office of former President Richard Nixon. The Diocese of Los Angeles encompasses 55,000 Episcopalians across an estimated 135 congregations and ministry centers in six counties in Southern California.
“While I’m all for freedom of speech from the pulpit, I prefer to hear Christian preachers talking about gospel values with respect to public policy instead of endorsing candidates. If a congregant is obeying the divine law of love, if they’re acting according to Jesus’ commandment to glorify God and care for God’s people, I don’t need to know whom they’re voting for, and I shouldn’t second-guess their vote,” Taylor said.
Mosaic Church in the Diocese of Texas is located in a suburb of Houston, which has been called the land of megachurches and is home to the largest Episcopal parish, St. Martin’s. The Rev. Joseph Yoo, priest and planter of Mosaic Church in Pearland, Texas, is an author and content creator who describes the policy change as “deeply concerning.”
“As an Episcopal priest, I believe the pulpit is sacred space. It’s where we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, not the platforms of political candidates,” Yoo said. “That doesn’t mean the church should be apolitical—far from it. The gospel has political implications. Jesus spoke truth to power, cared for the marginalized, and called out injustice. I will continue to preach about those values. But endorsing a specific candidate from the pulpit? That crosses a line.”
The Rt. Rev. Kristin Uffelman White echoes Yoo’s view in a letter sent to the diocese she leads on July 11.
“As bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio, I want to be clear: this is not a change we welcome. This is not a provision we asked for. This is not a boundary we will cross,” White said. “We are followers of Jesus Christ, and so our witness and voice is tuned to the Gospel, not any one political candidate or party.”
The Rev. Omar Cisneros, rector of Grace Church in Muskogee, Oklahoma, appreciates any change that enhances the church’s freedom to proclaim the gospel but has reservations on the IRS statement.
“To endorse a candidate is not merely to take a side. It is to risk trading our prophetic voice for political gain. It is to imagine that human power can accomplish what only God can bring about,” Cisneros said.
“The Church must never forget who it is. We are not lobbyists. We are not campaigners. We are the body of Christ, and our allegiance is to a kingdom that judges all others.”
The court filing was intended to settle a lawsuit by the National Religious Broadcasters, Intercessors for America, and two Texas-based churches, which deemed the Johnson Amendment as one that unconstitutionally prohibits tax-exempt organizations from engaging in political speech.
During his first term, President Donald Trump vowed to “get rid and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment.”
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
