Trump Wants To ‘Totally Destroy’ The Johnson Amendment, A Law Banning Churches From Political Activity

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Trading insults with Celebrity Apprentice host Arnold Schwarzenegger during and after Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast wasn’t the only religious discussion Donald Trump engaged in. The President of the United States also addressed a matter near and dear to the hearts (and wallets) of the pastors, priests, rabbis and other religious dignitaries gathered at the annual gathering in Washington, D.C. — the Johnson Amendment. The 1954 tax code prevision, which was introduced by then Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, is something the new administration wants to “totally destroy.”

Per the legal language of the provision, “all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.” This especially includes religious institutions like churches, synagogues and mosques, whose proponents (including elected officials) have campaigned for in numerous attempts to repeal the provision.

Despite these efforts, opponents of the tax code have had little success it repealing or amending it. If Trump’s comments Thursday morning are any indication, however, it seems the new president is in favor of doing just that:

In addressing the issue of churches and political speech, Mr. Trump said, ” will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.”

He added that “freedom of religion is a sacred right, but it is under serious threat.”

The irony of Trump’s “sacred right… under serious threat” remark notwithstanding, this isn’t the first time the new president has mentioned his opinion of the Johnson Amendment. The then Republican nominee railed against it and other similar legal maneuvers preventing tax-exempt religious organizations from participating directly in American politics. “My administration will do everything in its power to defend religious liberty,” he told the audience on Thursday. “We have to feel safe and secure.”

As if to preemptively address any criticism of these remarks in light of his controversial, though temporary travel ban, the president told breakfast attendees “terrorism is a fundamental threat to religious freedom” that “must… [and] will be stopped.” Not just for the sake of the country’s Christian majority, but also for all the “peace-loving Muslims” killed or harmed by the Islamic State’s efforts in the Middle East and across the globe.

(Via New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal)

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