WATCH: Republicans Team Up With Anti-LGBT Group to Introduce Bill Allowing Churches to Endorse Political Candidates

Trump Campaigned on Repealing Johnson Amendment

U.S. Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma and Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana on Wednesday teamed up with the Family Research Council to announce the introduction of a bill that would permit churches, other religious organizations, and non-profits to endorse political candidates. Current IRS rules, almost never enforced, ban many non-profits and religious institutions from doing so, but allow them to advocate for or against political and social issues. Republicans supporting the legislation see it as simply as an extra source of revenue and votes.

“A preacher should not have to get permission from the IRS to be able to preach to their congregation,” Rep. Scalise, who also serves as the House Majority Whip and head of the far right House Republican Study Group, said in a press event Wednesday. 

Rep. Scalise’s suggestion is false. Preachers do not have to ask permission from the IRS to preach to their congregations.

The Family Research Council posted the video below to Facebook, writing, “We’re joining pastors and congressional leaders on Capitol Hill to introduce the Free Speech Fairness Act.”

Scalise further mischaracterized the actions of the IRS, falsely claiming it is preventing congregations from communicating important messages.

“The federal government and the IRS should never have the ability to inhibit free speech,” Sen. Lankford said in a statement. “The Free Speech Fairness Act is needed to prevent government intrusion and suppression of free speech by removing a restriction on speech that has existed since 1954. The First Amendment right of free speech and right to practice any faith, or no faith, are foundational American values that must extend to everyone, whether they are a pastor, social worker or any charity employee or volunteer. People who work for a nonprofit still have constitutional rights to assembly, free speech, and free press.”

Sen. Lankford’s statement is dangerously misleading.

Free speech is a First Amendment guarantee. The vast array of non-profits that are allowed to not pay taxes, forcing other citizens to make up the more than $80 billion they are except from paying, while they use the same government services taxpayers do, is not a First Amendment guarantee.

Lankford also falsifies his argument by suggesting that people who work for a nonprofit do not have the constitutional rights of assembly, free speech, and free press.

Of course they do.

The law, known as the Johnson Amendment, is quite clear. 

For example, a pastor cannot stand in his or her church and preach to their congregation about why they should or should not vote for or against a particular candidate. They can make those arguments in their roles as private individuals. They can even go so far as to, for example, sign petitions or public letters using their titles and employers “for identification only.”

They also can – and do – preach about political and social issues without fear of reprisal from the law, as the law allows them to do so. Catholic priests can tell their congregations homosexuality is a sin, abortion is a sin, and so on. Jewish orthodox rabbis can tell the members of their synagogues that cremation goes against Jewish law.

And so on.

The Johnson Amendment has no bearing on the day-in and day-out operation of churches and other places of worship in America.

Senator Lankford knows this, but he also knows his conservative base will love this bill, and he know that as a canddiate Donald Trump promised point-blank to sign a law repealing the Johnson Amendment, so his falsehoods are worthwhile to him, apparently.

It should be noted that Sen. Lankford thinks being gay is a “behavior” and a “choice” – he has said so – and so it’s OK to fire people for being LGBT:

That was 2012. Three years later, Sen. Lankford co-authored an insane op-ed in the Christian Post, claiming that the right to not serve pork is the same as the right to not serve gays.

I kid you not.

There’s so much more we could tell you about the far right extremist positions of Senator Lankford, and Rep. Scalise, but you get the picture.