Protecting the Johnson Amendment
Summary
The Johnson Amendment prohibits tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations, including houses of worship, from getting involved in partisan politics by endorsing or opposing candidates for public office. The Trump administration wants to change this for religious organizations but not secular nonprofits.
Allowing houses of worship to endorse political candidates risks politicizing vital nonprofit institutions, eroding public trust, and threatening the independence and integrity of the entire nonprofit sector.
AU and our allies are fighting back.
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The Johnson Amendment is good for both church and state
For more than 70 years, the Johnson Amendment has ensured that all tax-exempt charitable nonprofits—including houses of worship—do not become conduits for partisan politics. Houses of worship are spaces where members of communities can come together, not be divided along political lines. Religious communities across the country do not want their places of worship to endorse or oppose political candidates. Religious and non-religious Americans alike support the Johnson Amendment.
Trump has tried this before
Trump has tried to “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment before. Prior to his first term, Trump, in an effort to support his Christian Nationalist allies, vowed to “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment. He was unsuccessful then, but this time could be different.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), acting in response to a recent lawsuit filed on behalf of two churches in Texas and two Christian organizations, has proposed essentially allowing houses of worship – but not secular nonprofits – to endorse or oppose candidates.
This reinterpretation of the Johnson Amendment is a self-serving attack on church-state separation
This proposed change would open the floodgates for any church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or other house of worship to endorse political candidates from the pulpit without risking their tax‑exempt status. If the court approves this settlement, houses of worship would be subject to intense political pressure to engage in electoral politics from down ballot races and primaries to the presidency, distracting them from their missions. It would also create a loophole for the political donors to enjoy tax deductible donations for their political campaign contributions, exploiting houses of worship for political gains.
Americans United President and CEO, Rachel Laser, said that the Trump Administration’s new interpretation of the Johnson Amendment “is a flagrant, self-serving attack on church-state separation … President Trump and his Christian Nationalist allies are once again exploiting religion to boost their own political power. We’re intervening in this case so we can urge the court to reject the administration’s latest gambit to re-write the law.”
Americans United is requesting intervenor status in National Religious Broadcasters v. Long and asking the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to reject this proposal because it would grant favor and privilege to religious organizations and treat them differently than secular nonprofits – an unconstitutional violation of church-state separation.
Case Documents
National Religious Broadcasters, et al. v. Long
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Over seventy years ago, the American people, acting through Congress, and the many nonprofit organizations operating throughout the country reached a consensus: tax exemption and the eligibility to receive tax-deductible contributions would be available in exchange for refraining from making political endorsements. Known as the Johnson Amendment, this provision of the tax code prohibits all 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, which include churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates as a condition for their tax-exempt status.
Christian Nationalists have been working to dismantle and “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment. In 2017, the first Trump Administration sought to repeal this provision. This decision was met with widespread resistance from faith leaders, nonprofit organizations, and religious and denominational organizations. Now, the Internal Revenue Service is refusing to defend the Johnson Amendment from attack.
In August of 2024, the National Religious Broadcasters and two Texas churches filed a lawsuit against the IRS in Texas, alleging that the Johnson Amendment violates their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion, their Fifth Amendment rights to due process of law and equal protection under the law, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
On July 10, 2025 – after the IRS proposed a settlement agreement indicating that it would not substantively defend or seek to enforce the Johnson Amendment – Americans United sought to intervene in National Religious Broadcasters, et al. v. Long. AU believes that the Johnson Amendment protects the integrity of both elections and nonprofit organizations, and that it promotes the core principles underlying the principle of separation of church and state: that religious freedom flourishes best when it is kept separate from politics.
In the face of the IRS’s indifference – if not outright hostility – to the Johnson Amendment, AU is stepping up to defend religious neutrality and to ensure that the Court does not issue a ruling without hearing our perspective on the issue. Weakening or eliminating this provision threatens the separation of church and state and grants religious organizations an unfair political advantage over nonprofits that conform with the regulation.
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Plaintiffs
Reverend Darcy Roake & Adrian Van Young
“As an interfaith family, we strongly value religious inclusion and diversity, and we teach our children that all people are equal and have inherent dignity and worth. The Ten Commandments displays required by this law fly in the face of these values and send a message of religious intolerance. They will not only undermine our ability to instill these values in our children, but they will also help create an unwelcoming and oppressive school environment for children, like ours, who don’t believe in the state’s official version of scripture. We believe that no child should feel excluded in public school because of their family’s faith tradition.”
Reverend Jeff Sims
“By favoring one version of the Ten Commandments and mandating that it be posted in public schools, the government is intruding on deeply personal matters of religion. I believe that it’s critical for my children to receive and understand scripture within the context of our faith, which honors God’s gift of diversity and teaches that all people are equal. This law sends a contrary message of religious intolerance that one denomination or faith system is officially preferable to others, and that those who don’t adhere to it are lesser in worth and status. As a pastor and father, I cannot, in good conscience, sit by silently while our political representatives usurp God’s authority for themselves and trample our fundamental religious-freedom rights.”
Jennifer Harding and Benjamin Owens
“As a nonreligious family, we oppose the government forcibly subjecting our child to a religious scripture that we don’t believe in. The State of Louisiana should not direct a religious upbringing of our child and require students to observe the state’s preferred religious doctrine in every classroom.”
Erin Hawley and David Hawley
“We instill moral and ethical values in our children through positive concepts, such as love and caring for others, not biblical commandments. As Unitarian Universalists, we strongly believe that every person has the right to undertake a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. That cannot happen when the government forces scripture on people, especially children—who are at the beginning of their spiritual journeys.”
Joshua Herlands
“As a parent, an American, and a Jew, I am appalled that state lawmakers are forcing public schools to post a specific version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. These displays distort the Jewish significance of the Ten Commandments and send the troubling message to students that one set of religious laws is favored over all others. Tolerance is at the heart of our family’s practice of Judaism, and this effort to evangelize students, including my children, is antithetical to our core religious beliefs and our values as Americans.”
Press
AU denounces IRS plan to exempt houses of worship from the Johnson Amendment
July 8, 2025 –
Americans United for Separation of Church and State’s President and CEO Rachel Laser issued the following statement in response to the Internal Revenue Service’s reinterpretation of law to exempt houses of worship and religious organizations from the Johnson Amendment, a federal law that prevents 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations from endorsing or opposing partisan political candidates for public office. The proposed settlement was included in a court filing on Monday in the case National Religious Broadcasters v. Long.
AU seeks to intervene in Johnson Amendment lawsuit
July 11, 2025 –
Americans United for Separation of Church and State late Thursday took steps to intervene in the case National Religious Broadcasters v. Long. The federal lawsuit was brought by religious organizations challenging the Johnson Amendment, a 70-year-old federal law that prevents 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations from endorsing or opposing partisan political candidates for public office.
AU joins 1,000 nonprofits to launch national effort to defend Johnson Amendment
August 4, 2025 –
mericans United for Separation of Church and State, the National Council of Nonprofits, American Humanist Association, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Independent Sector, Interfaith Alliance, Public Citizen, and other leading nonprofit organizations launched a national sign-on letter addressed to President Trump. In the letter, the nonprofits strongly object to efforts by the administration to weaken the Johnson Amendment, a longstanding federal law that protects nonprofits from partisan politics by prohibiting 501(c)(3) organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates.
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