Various sources report that the IRS will no longer enforce the Johnson Amendment in any meaningful way. The Johnson Amendment prohibited religion from advocating for political candidates during regular religious services. That was the qui pro quo for religion getting all those juicy tax breaks from the IRS. Well, now religion has its cake and gets to eat it and all of us too. What was the reasoning the IRS asserts?
The Christian nationalist "rationale" for this is pure cynical, insulting bullshit. The IRS says that religious endorsements are just like "a family discussion concerning candidates." The greedy, morally corrupt Christian nationalist theocrats that run the IRS argued this:
“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 Johnson Amendment, named after then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, was enacted in 1954 as part of the Internal Revenue Code. It prohibits all 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from "participating in, or intervening in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office." The amendment was created to prevent tax-deductible contributions from being used to support political campaigns, ensuring that charitable organizations remain nonpartisan in exchange for their tax-exempt status.
So, exactly what, if anything, might violate the "properly interpreted" law? Not anything of major importance. Churches can theoretically still lose their tax exempt status if they (1) buy newspaper, television or radio ads that oppose or support candidates that God opposes or supports, (2) distribute campaign materials to the general public, or (3) host public political rallies or campaign events. Given the fact that the IRS is now controlled by Christian nationalists, the chances of any Christian church losing its tax exempt status is almost zero no matter how blatantly it violates the law. Before this, the IRS very rarely used the Johnson Amendment to revoke tax exemptions from any religious group. Tax break revocations were extremely rare.** Now revocations will be non-existent.
** How rare? Pretty rare. Apparently only 1 religious group, a televangelist, lost its tax exemption since the Johnson Amendment's creation in 1954.
What about Islamic Mosques and Jewish Temples? Higher odds of loss of tax breaks, but still very low.
Estimated benefits to Christian theocracy
The bottom line: The Christian nationalist IRS has put its finger on the scale of elections to heavily favor Christian nationalist candidates and theocracy at the expense of secular candidates and democracy. How heavily in favor? This heavily:
Summary of benefits estimate: Gutting the Johnson Amendment is worth about $42.6 billion in free advertising for Christian nationalist theocrats and Republican candidates and ~150,000 to ~800,000 added votes in the next election, but with this caveat:
Q6: Considering human society, human behavior, psychology and sociology, will the impact on added votes for Christian or theocratic candidates increase as religious political advocacy in religious services is normalized and society comes to accept this as normal? Also consider social science evidence that indicates that when social safety nets in democracies weaken, as they now are in the US, church attendance and religiosity tends to increase.A6: Executive Summary: The IRS's reinterpretation of the Johnson Amendment represents far more than a simple policy change—it triggers a normalization process that will progressively amplify Christian nationalist voting power through multiple reinforcing mechanisms. As religious political advocacy becomes routine and social safety nets continue to erode, both the frequency and effectiveness of Christian political messaging will increase dramatically, creating a compounding effect that could generate millions of additional votes for Christian nationalist candidates over the next decade.
Phase 1: Initial Acceptance (2025-2026) The normalization of religious political advocacy follows a predictable three-stage pattern identified in political science research. Initially, political endorsements from pulpits will be socially stigmatized by the broader population—77% of Americans currently oppose church political endorsements. However, this opposition will gradually weaken as explicit political messaging becomes routine.Phase 2: Activation and Mobilization (2027-2028) As prominent religious leaders achieve electoral breakthroughs through their political advocacy, other clergy will observe their success and join the movement. This creates a bandwagon effect where religious leaders face social pressure within their professional networks to make political endorsements..... very long analysis ....Conclusion: .... The democratic implications are profound. This development threatens core principles of religious freedom, church-state separation, and pluralistic democracy. .... The window for effective response is limited. As religious political advocacy becomes normalized over the next several years, reversing this trend will become increasingly difficult.
Q7: Is obliterating the separation of church and state a core Christian nationalist theocratic goal?A7: Yes, Eliminating Church-State Separation is a Core Christian Nationalist Theocratic GoalThe evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that obliterating the separation of church and state is indeed a core Christian nationalist theocratic goal. This is not a peripheral or incidental objective but rather the central organizing principle of multiple Christian nationalist movements that seek to transform American democracy into a Christian theocracy.
.... long analysis ....
The entire Q&A thread with Pxy is at this link.
Q: In the power struggle that will follow the death of djt, what major faction/mindset is most likely to come out on top, (1) autocrats with a new dictator-kleptocrat, (2) oligarch-kleptocrats running a plutocracy, (3) Christian nationalist theocrat-kleptocrats, (4) some combination of two or all three of those, or (5) pro-secular democracy forces?
The Christian nationalist IRS
just obliterated the wall