Doug Pagitt speaks at a get out the vote rally in support of Kamala Harris in Harrisburg on November 3, 2024. (Paul Weaver/Sipa USA/AP)
Donald Trump’s administration is giving churches a green light to explicitly endorse political candidates, without fear of losing their nonprofit tax status, under a proposed court settlement. And a leading figure on the Religious Left insists that’s a good thing for Democrats.
The Internal Revenue Service — now led by controversial Trump appointee and X enthusiast Billy Long — proposed a “consent judgment” last week, seeking to settle a court case brought by Christian broadcasters. The IRS seeks to effectively exempt churches from the Johnson Amendment, a federal law that bans tax-exempt groups from politicking. The proposed settlement states that “communications from a house of worship to its congregation… on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted.” The document likens endorsements from the pulpit to “a family discussion concerning candidates.”
Some progressives are sounding the alarm that this ruling will transform houses of worship into a political powerhouse for the MAGA GOP, which relies on evangelical Christians as its base. But Doug Pagitt, a progressive evangelical pastor and executive director of Vote Common Good, argues that ruling provides much needed clarity — and could actually give progressives a desperately needed boost.