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More than 1,000 nonprofit leaders have signed a national letter addressed to President Donald J. Trump strongly objecting to efforts by his 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.
The letter responds directly to a proposed legal settlement involving the Internal Revenue Service and National Religious Broadcasters that, if approved by a federal judge, would undermine a federal law protecting charitable and religious nonprofits from partisan politics for more than 70 years.
The letter warns that exempting houses of worship from this longstanding protection, as the administration seeks to do, risks politicizing vital nonprofit institutions, eroding public trust, and threatening the independence and integrity of the entire nonprofit sector. The groups signing the letter represent thousands of local nonprofits that show up every day to help people in need. In every community, nonprofits — including houses of worship – feed, heal, shelter, and support their neighbors, no matter their politics. They are asking leaders to keep that trust strong.
The letter responds directly to a proposed legal settlement involving the Internal Revenue Service and National Religious Broadcasters that, if approved by a federal judge, would undermine a federal law protecting charitable and religious nonprofits from partisan politics for more than 70 years.
“American democracy and our diverse religious communities benefit from healthy boundaries between government and religion,” Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, said via a statement. “It’s essential that our houses of worship remain outside the partisan fray, unbeholden to any political figure or group. This decision could open the floodgates to dark money operations that would turn sacred spaces into fronts for shady political schemes. Instead of politicizing the pulpit, the administration should properly enforce the seven-decades-old law that allows tax-exempt houses of worship to advocate powerfully around moral and policy issues without pushing partisanship on their congregations.”
“Nonprofits exist to serve the common good, not partisan politics,” according to Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits. “Undermining the law that protects nonprofit nonpartisanship could severely damage the integrity and effectiveness of the entire nonprofit sector. Efforts by the administration and some in Congress to do so aren’t about religion or free speech, but about radically altering campaign finance laws and attempting to open the floodgates for political operatives to funnel money through churches while receiving generous tax breaks.”
Nonprofit leaders are encouraged to sign the letter. For additional information, read the National Council of Nonprofits’ insights & analysis here.
