What political speech is allowed in church, and what is not?
Until this summer, the answer was complex but relatively straightforward: it boiled down to a prohibition on endorsing candidates but permitted us to endorse issues and ballot initiatives provided this was an insignificant part of our preaching and communications. This was based on a 1954 tax law provision referred to as “The Johnson Amendment” which kept the church out of partisan politics, but not necessarily out of the public square.
All that supposedly changed this July when the IRS, in a court filing, said that it would regard political endorsements from churches as a private matter rather than one that could jeopardize their tax-exempt status. So, technically speaking, we could now endorse candidates or parties.
But our Bishop, like many faith leaders, immediately made it clear that though the law allows it, we as Episcopal churches would not cross that line.
What does this mean, then, for churches trying to act and witness faithfully in a time of significant upheaval? When our own Presiding Bishop has spoken about the Episcopal church being “an engine of resistance,” when Christian Nationalism is a forced to be reckoned with, and leaders such as Bishop of Washington are challenging the current administration on issues such as immigration, racial equity, and LGBTQ+ safety?
In an era of profound and dangerous partisan conflict, church leaders must consider not only what political speech is appropriate, but what is also most effective in proclaiming a message of love, justice and mercy.
This Sunday I’ll offer a Dean’s Forum on the law and practice of the Johnson Amendment and what the changes – legal and cultural – might mean for us today. It’s a tremendously complex issue; in truth, it always has been. Yet there are paths forward, and I look forward to our conversation about it. .
