MINNEAPOLIS
— President Donald Trump's order to ease limits on political activity by
religious organizations is being met with both enthusiasm and dread from
religious leaders, with some rejoicing in the freedom to preach their views and endorse candidates and others fearing the change will erode the integrity of houses of worship.
Trump signed
the executive order on Thursday, saying it would give churches their
"voices back." It directs the Treasury Department not to take action
against religious organizations that engage in political speech.
"It's
never good for the church or the state when the two get in bed with each
other," said the Rev. Gregory Boyd, senior pastor of Woodland Hills
Church, a nondenominational church in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota.
For pastors
to use the pulpit "to get others to buy into their particular way of
voting is, I think, a real abuse of authority," he added.
The Rev.
Charlie Muller, pastor of the nondenominational Victory Christian Church in
Albany, New York, is excited. As soon as details of the order are sorted out,
his church plans to endorse a candidate for mayor.
"I'm
very involved politically, but we've been handcuffed," Muller said.
"We want to have a voice, and we haven't had that."
Trump had
long promised conservative Christian supporters that he would block the IRS
regulation, known as the Johnson Amendment, though any repeal would have to be
done by Congress. The amendment, named for then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson, was
enacted in 1954 and allows a wide range of advocacy on political issues. But it
bars electioneering and outright political endorsements from the pulpit.
Soon after
the president signed the order, an atheist group known as the Freedom From
Religion Foundation filed papers in federal court seeking to block the measure.
The IRS does
not publicize violation investigations, but only one church is known to have
lost its tax-exempt status for breaking the rule. Because the limits are rarely
enforced, some say the regulation never had teeth, and Trump's signature
amounted to a photo opportunity.
The Rev.
Wallace Bubar, pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, Iowa,
described the order as "pandering to the religious right." He does
not foresee any effect on his church or any other.
"For
whatever reason, the religious right evangelicals have developed a persecution
complex here in the last few years, and I think this is intended to address
that," Bubar said.
Rabbi Jonah
Pesner supports the Johnson Amendment, calling it "a gift to
preachers."
"It
gives me the freedom, from the pulpit, to peach about values and policy, but to
be protected from partisanship," said Pesner, who runs the social and
advocacy arm of Reform Judaism, the largest American Jewish movement.
"Because if I were able to cross that partisan line as a preacher, I'd be
under enormous pressure from stakeholders, from members, from donors. It would
undermine my moral authority as a guardian of religious tradition."
Preachers,
he said, must speak truth to power "in the spirit of the prophets,"
no matter which party holds power.
The Rev. Gus
Booth, pastor of Warroad Community Church, an interdenominational congregation
in far northwestern Minnesota, said he was ecstatic about the order, calling it
an "incremental step" toward getting the rule overturned — an effort
he's been championing for years.
During the
2008 presidential primary, Booth openly preached against Democrats Hillary
Clinton and Barack Obama. He invited a newspaper reporter to his sermon, then
sent a copy of the article and his sermon to the IRS, saying, "Hey, come
get me," he recalled.
He said the
IRS started an inquiry but dropped it. Since then, he's sent the IRS a sermon
every year, showing he's in violation of the rule but practicing his right to
free speech.
"I
ought to be able to say anything that I want to say, wherever I want to say
it," he said. "I don't lose free speech rights when I step behind the
pulpit. In fact, that should be some of the most protected speech."
All Saints
Church in Pasadena, California, felt the Johnson Amendment's effects firsthand.
The IRS investigated the liberal Episcopal congregation over an anti-war sermon
by a former rector days before the 2004 presidential election. That pastor did
not endorse a candidate but suggested Jesus would condemn the Iraq War and
then-President George W. Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive war.
The church
was not penalized, but it racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal
fees over three years.
The current
rector, the Rev. Mike Kinman, said the church supports the rule and that the
clergy's task "is to interpret our faith for the common good," not to
entangle faith in partisan politics. He called Trump's order "supremely
unhelpful" and said it could open the door to people who want to buy
endorsements or route money to political campaigns.
The Rev. Don
Anderson, executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches,
said the Johnson Amendment can protect the clergy from being put in awkward
spots, such as being asked to endorse a parishioner's relative.
"History
teaches us this: Whenever the church is too close to government ... the church
loses its integrity," he said.
*AP*
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