Michigan representative Mike Rogers was on Fox News Sunday where he said: “The conclusion that the IRS came to is that they did have agents who were engaged in intimidation of political groups… I don’t care if you’re a conservative, a liberal, a Democrat or a Republican, this should send a chill up your spine. It needs to have a full investigation.”

This news is bad.  And it should send a chill up our spines to know that a very powerful branch of the federal government was specifically targeting political groups with which it disagreed.  Such behavior is more fitting in an authoritarian style of government and should have no place in our constitutional republic.  It is chilling to be labeled, even in a indirect way, as an enemy of the state and to have the power of the federal government arrayed against you.

But what should be reported is that the targeting by the IRS goes even deeper than what is just reported.  Because the IRS has been targeting churches since the passage of the Johnson Amendment in 1954.  There is no difference between what the IRS has been caught doing with conservative groups and what the IRS has done to churches for the last 59 years.  Both are intimidation.  Imagine the impact of a system of intimidation targeting a particular group left unchecked for over half a century.  Because that is exactly what has happened with America’s churches.

The Johnson Amendment was passed in 1954 because Senator Lyndon Johnson did not like the views of his political opponents.  It was a naked attempt to keep the reins of raw power in his own hands and to silence non-profit groups who opposed his reelection because they believed he was soft on communism.  Johnson devised a clever way to target these groups, and his amendment to 501(c)(3) of the tax code has since been applied to intimidate churches and pastors across the country into silence on the moral qualifications of candidates and the positions they hold.

Free speech is a fragile thing and it needs breathing space to exist.  The power of government can all too easily squelch dissent.  In 1926, The U.S. Supreme Court stated that vague laws chill free speech because “People of common intelligence must necessarily guess at [the law’s] meaning and differ as to its application.”  What this means is that if the government enacts a vague speech regulation, people will not know where the line is between what is permissible and what is prohibited.  Thus, they will “chill” their own speech.  Stated more simply, people will not speak at all if there is uncertainty over whether the power of government will come down on them if they say something that might violate the law.  This is what we awe seeing first hand with the revelations of the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups.  And this has been the problem with the Johnson Amendment and the IRS’ vague regulations enforcing it.  The law does not give any certainty over what is allowed and what is permitted from the pulpits of America’s churches.  So pastors, concerned that they might say something that would trigger the enforcement power of the IRS (a very powerful government agency), stay silent.

It’s good to shine the light on to the private and devious machinations of the federal government when those occur.  But let’s recognize that conservative groups have not been the only ones in the crosshairs of the IRS.  America’s churches have suffered for too long under the intimidation of the IRS.  The best way to shine the light on that intimidation is to stand in the face of it.  That’s why we launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday. And that’s why we hope that if you are a pastor, you will go today to sign up to participate in Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  It’s time for the IRS to stop using its power to squelch free speech and freedom of religion of America’s churches.

What the IRS did here is unconstitutional.  It is always outrageous when the coercive powers of government are used for political intimidation.  And I am glad that the IRS has apologized for its actions.  But this story illustrates the problem when we allow government agencies and officials to exercise unfettered power to enforce vague and ambiguous laws.

The IRS has in fact been exercising that kind of power since 1954 with the Johnson Amendment that allows it to censor a pastor’s sermon from the pulpit.  The Johnson Amendment prohibits “participating in or intervening in” a political campaign “on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate for public office.”  The IRS has interpreted this over the years to say that churches cannot “directly or indirectly” participate in a campaign.  But there is no definition of what it means to “indirectly” participate in a campaign.  The IRS tells churches that it must consider “all the facts and circumstances” to determine when a church has violated the Johnson Amendment.  Basically, this means that it won’t tell churches with precision what speech violates the Johnson Amendment and instead will wait and evaluate everything after the fact to then determine if the church has violated the law.  The IRS even went so far as to say that a church could violate the Johnson Amendment by the use of “code words” where it doesn’t even have to name a candidate specifically but if it speaks in a certain way that the IRS believes supports or opposes a candidate, then that could violate the law.

The point here is that the IRS enforcement of the Johnson Amendment is a situation particularly susceptible to abuse of power.  The IRS is unaccountable for who it investigates, when it investigates, or even whether it investigates violations of the Johnson Amendment.  It issues vague pronouncements designed to intimidate churches into silence out of fear of an IRS audit or penalties.  The IRS’ recent apology demonstrates that it has broad, coercive, and unconstitutional powers that can be used improperly to chill speech and intimidate the exercise of constitutional rights.  But that’s what the IRS has been doing with the Johnson Amendment since 1954. The situation is even worse when considering the fact that the Johnson Amendment was passed in the first place to silence political opponents of Senator Lyndon Johnson.

The Johnson Amendment is an unconstitutional restriction on a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit and it allows the IRS to utilize intimidation to enforce the law and chill constitutionally protected speech.  Alliance Defending Freedom has been fighting the Johnson Amendment and its unconstitutional effects on churches and pastors.  That’s why we started Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008.  If you are a pastor, sign up to participate in Pulpit Freedom Sunday on June 9, 2013.  This year’s Pulpit Freedom Sunday is about marriage, but it remains about the broader principle that no IRS official should ever tell a pastor what he can or cannot say from the pulpit.

The recent IRS apology is a beginning.  But the IRS should also apologize for 59 years of intimidation of pastors and churches.  It’s time to end the Johnson Amendment’s regime of censorship.

We also have a saying at Alliance Defending Freedom: “While you shepherd your flock, we’ll watch the horizon.”  The sentiment behind this statement is that pastors frequently lack time or expertise to watch the horizon and judge what poses a legal threat to the church. That’s why God placed Alliance Defending Freedom in this place at this time. We are watching the legal horizon.

This year, marriage is a hot topic in legal circles. The United States Supreme Court is deciding cases involving the definition of the institution created by God in the Garden of Eden even before the fall of man. How can you as a pastor best respond in these challenging times?

Before the Court has its say, America’s pastors must have their say

The Supreme Court decision is expected to be handed down by the end of June. In its decision, the Supreme Court will have its say on how our laws will treat marriage. But before the Supreme Court has its say, America’s pastors must have their say. That’s why we are conducting Pulpit Freedom Sunday on June 9, 2013. On that day, pastors across the country will stand united to proclaim with one voice what God’s design for marriage is and why our country should honor that design and resist the siren’s call to redefine this most basic of human institutions.

If you have not yet signed up for Pulpit Freedom Sunday, please do so. The sign-up process only takes a minute.  If you cannot preach on June 9, then pick a Sunday as close to that day as possible and indicate the date of your message in the sign-up process.

In this crucial time in our country’s history, the voice of God from the shepherds of God’s flocks must be heard proclaiming biblical Truth about marriage to a society that far too often seems on the verge of forgetting marriage altogether.

What’s the state of the marriage battle?

Given the complexities of the legal process, many pastors feel daunted by the prospect of communicating the state of the marriage battle. However, we’ve made it easy for you.  This simple map will show you the current state of the battle to protect marriage in the United States.

There are also numerous sermon preparation resources on our website to help you effectively communicate about marriage to your congregation. There are resources about God’s design for marriage, and the threat that same-sex “marriage” poses to religious freedom.

We also have created a resource highlighting the positions certain elected officials took before the Supreme Court on the issue of marriage. You can use this resource to praise elected officials who fought to protect marriage as God intended, or to call out with biblical Truth those officials who took a public stand against marriage.

What do I need to do to protect my church?

We also receive many questions about what proactive steps churches can take to protect themselves.  There are a couple of things all churches can do to best position themselves for the future.

First, read our resource Seven Things all Churches Should have in their Bylaws. We also have some suggested bylaw language on marriage and human sexuality that will help churches in this regard.

Second, we advise every church to adopt a facilities usage policy that governs use of church facilities for wedding ceremonies. We have created a sample policy for you to use to ensure your church is protected.

Even in those states that adopted same-sex “marriage” or some equivalent, such as civil unions, churches do not have to allow use of their facilities for wedding ceremonies that are inconsistent with their faith. But there is an effort underway in some areas — such as Hawaii and Hutchinson, Kansas — to force churches to allow use of their facilities for same-sex “weddings” if they open their facilities for use by non-members for weddings at all. Passing a facilities usage policy provides a good defense. Put simply, no government official has the right to force a church to allow its facilities to be used for events that violate its religious beliefs.

Never forget that Alliance Defending Freedom is “watching the legal horizon.” We will continue to keep you updated and provide the best ways you as a pastor can respond to protect your church from legal threats.

However, at a recent tax conference, Treasury Attorney-Advisor Ruth Madrigal said that the IRS’ long-awaited rules on church audits are “close” to being finalized.  So what does this mean for churches?

What this means is that once the IRS’ regulations on auditing churches are finalized, then it is logical to assume that the IRS will begin auditing churches again.  Whether this means that the IRS will audit churches that participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday remains to be seen.  We will have to closely watch the IRS’ actions once the church audit rules are finalized.

But ultimately, the constitutional rights of pastors and churches do not turn on whether the IRS decides to audit churches.  Alliance Defending Freedom has said for years that the Johnson Amendment in section 501(c)(3) of the tax code is unconstitutional.  If the IRS audits and penalizes churches for something it believes violates the Johnson Amendment, then Alliance Defending Freedom stands ready to defend the constitutional rights of America’s pastors to speak biblical truth uncensored by the IRS.

For now, we will continue to monitor the situation and will make you aware of any changes the IRS proposes.  As we say here at Alliance Defending Freedom, “You watch your flock, and we’ll watch the horizon.”  And if you have not yet signed up to participate in Pulpit Freedom Sunday, please do so today.  This year, Pulpit Freedom Sunday is all about marriage, and America desperately needs to hear what God says about marriage at this crucial time.  Signing up for Pulpit Freedom Sunday is easy and we hope to see thousands of pastors standing united on June 9, 2013, preaching biblical truth about marriage.  Will you be one of those pastors?  Please sign up today.

Now, years later, I’m the Den Leader for my son’s Webelos Den.  We meet at a local Presbyterian church in town. We hold our activities there, including our yearly Blue and Gold banquet and our Pack meetings. My son was just awarded the Cub Scout Arrow of Light in the church’s gym.

I suppose my story is not much different than most other Scouts in America. For Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, the physical location of a church is inextricably intertwined with Scouting.  Churches are the quintessential meeting spaces for Scout troops. That’s because every Scout unit must be chartered by a local organization and seventy percent of all chartering organizations are churches. Churches are chartering organizations because they believe in the good of Scouting for boys.

So what happens to these churches if the Boy Scouts changes its membership policy to allow those who advocate or engage in homosexual behavior to become Scouts and leaders?  Most of the churches that charter Scout troops have a sincere religious belief against homosexual behavior. So if the membership policy changes, these churches will be on the horns of a dilemma. Do they prohibit the Scout troops from meeting in their church buildings, or do they ignore their sincere religious beliefs? This is a very real dilemma for churches that are committed to allowing their facilities to be used only in ways consistent with their faith.

Forcing churches to stop hosting Scout troops is a big step in the process of sidelining churches.  And we’ve seen enough attempts to render the Church irrelevant in the community. Churches used to be integral partners in the communities but now they are pushed out of the community by unconstitutional zoning codes.  Attempts are made to tax churches as if they are just another business or, in one case, to tax it completely out of existence despite its outreach efforts to the poor. Some have even proposed forcing church facilities to be used for same-sex wedding ceremonies.

Now is the time for the Boy Scouts to hear the Church’s voice on this issue. Take a moment and sign the petition to encourage the Scouts to retain their current membership policy. Forward the link to the petition to all the members of your congregation and encourage them to sign it as well.

The Boy Scouts will listen to America’s churches. The current leadership of the Boy Scouts likely had a similar experience as I did and remember fondly the church that hosted their Scout troop. Sign the petition today. Let’s continue the history of Scouting in America’s churches for the next generation of Scouts who will be tomorrow’s leaders.

This year, our country faces one of the most pressing issues in our history as efforts are underway to radically redefine the institution of marriage, the relationship that God established long ago in the Garden of Eden even before the Fall of mankind.  The United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear two cases where plaintiffs are hoping to radically redefine marriage to include same-sex couples.  Oral argument on these cases will be in late March and a decision by the Court is expected at the end of June.  These are the first cases ever where the Supreme Court will address the definition of marriage directly.

With all this in mind, Pulpit Freedom Sunday 2013 will be a Sunday focused on marriage.

Even though this year is a non-election year, that does not mean it is a non-engagement year for pastors.  The heartbeat of Pulpit Freedom Sunday has always been to remove legal restrictions on what a pastor can say from the pulpit and by doing so, to empower pastors to speak boldly and courageously on the pressing issues of our day that are addressed by Scripture.

As many of you know, Alliance Defending Freedom launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008 as a legal challenge to the Johnson Amendment. The Johnson Amendment is a 1954 law that grants the IRS the power to censor what you as a pastor say from your pulpit about candidates during an election season.  The law is hopelessly unconstitutional.  Yet despite this fact, no court has ever been presented with a constitutional challenge to the law.

Courageous pastors stood in their pulpits as part of Pulpit Freedom Sunday and proclaimed biblical truth as it relates to candidates and elections.  They recorded their sermons and sent them to the IRS in hopes of sparking a legal challenge to the Johnson Amendment to have it declared unconstitutional.

You may be wondering what the IRS response has been.  In a word, silence.  Not one of the pastors who have participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday has been censored or punished by the IRS in any way.

Despite this fact, the Johnson Amendment remains in effect and the IRS continues to maintain publicly that it has the power to enforce the law against a pastor’s sermon.  Because of this, Pulpit Freedom Sunday is still necessary to keep up the pressure on the IRS and to regain the freedom of America’s pulpits.

• When is Pulpit Freedom Sunday 2013?

Pulpit Freedom Sunday will be on Sunday, June 9, 2013.  We want every pastor available to speak on that same day, if possible, to declare with one voice God’s design for marriage.  If you cannot speak on that day, please pick another day close to that day and sign up to participate.

• What will pastors do on Pulpit Freedom Sunday?

Pastors who sign up to participate will preach a sermon on God’s design for marriage.  Pastors can also take the opportunity to address the threat to religious freedom posed by same-sex “marriage,” or to call out their elected officials who are on record supporting same-sex “marriage.”

• What resources are there to help me prepare for Pulpit Freedom Sunday?

There are sermon preparation materials, sample sermons on marriage, resources to help you understand how same-sex “marriage” poses a threat to religious freedom, and information about elected officials that are either supporting or opposing same-sex “marriage.” All of these can be found at www.pulpitfreedom.org

• Where can I sign up to participate?

Sign up to participate at  www.pulpitfreedom.org The sign up process only takes a minute to complete.

Now, more than ever, Americans must hear from their pastors regarding what God says about marriage.  Pastors have always guided the conscience of America through troubled times when the country faced a moral dilemma.  Pastors must once again assume that role as the conscience of America, guiding her into biblical truth.

Will you stand with thousands of your fellow pastors on Pulpit Freedom Sunday?  Sign up today at www.pulpitfreedom.org.

So on this 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision are we at times tempted to echo the woman who questioned Dr. Mohler and wonder why this issue won’t just go away?  Do we grow weary in the battle at times?  In times like this, when we mark milestones in the abortion battle, it is good to step back and realize just why this issue will never go away for Christians and why America’s pastors must never stop proclaiming God’s truth about abortion.  Because no matter what society does or says, and no matter how the death toll mounts, God’s truth never changes and He hates abortion.

Psalm 119:160 says of God, “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”  Isaiah 40:8 proclaims that “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”  The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:23 speaks of the “living and abiding word of God” and then echoes Isaiah that “the word of the Lord remains forever.”  Scripture proclaims that God’s Word stands forever.  Put another way, it never, ever, ever changes.  And when God says in Proverbs 6:16-17 that he hates hands that shed innocent blood, His hatred doesn’t somehow go away after we reach a threshold of innocent blood that has been spilled. No, God’s Word stands forever.  He will forever hate hands that shed innocent blood.

But we must also remember that our God forgives and heals.  The Psalmist declares that God “forgives all your iniquity.” In 1 Chronicles 16:34, David proclaimed that God’s “steadfast love endures forever.”  That’s also a message today’s pastors must proclaim.  Because for every one of the over 55 million babies that have been aborted since 1973, there also stands a woman broken by the pain and hurt of abortion who is in desperate need of a forgiveness and love that only God can extend and that He promises to provide to those who ask.

On this day that we mark forty years of abortion on demand, and mourn the loss of over 55 million of our fellow citizens, we must remember why this issue will never just “go away” until abortion is once again recognized as illegal and punishable as murder in our criminal laws.  It’s because God’s truth never changes.  His truth has not changed in forty years and will remain the same forever.

On this blog, we frequently talk about how biblical truth is under assault.  That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom was created, though.  Because we must protect the proclamation of God’s unchanging truth to a culture that doesn’t want to hear it.  If America’s churches and pastors are to remain faithful in this day, we must stand together for biblical truth no matter how our society tends to ignore it or try to change it.  Pastors must proclaim that God’s truth does not and will not change.  Abortion is just as wrong today as it was 40 years ago.  And it will be wrong forever.

And forever is a lot longer than forty years.

After these comments came to light, groups advocating homosexual behavior demanded that Giglio withdraw from the inauguration, which he did, claiming that he did not want his presence to detract from the work he has been doing recently to end human trafficking.

The blogosphere erupted with commentary on the issue.  Russell Moore posted on his blog:

When it is now impossible for one who holds to the catholic Christian view of marriage and the gospel to pray at a public event, we now have a de facto established state church.  Just as the pre-constitutional Anglican and congregational churches required a license to preach in order to exclude Baptists, the new state church requires a “license” of embracing sexual liberation in all its forms.

Al Mohler posted wrote on his blog:

The Presidential Inaugural Committee and the White House have now declared historic, biblical Christianity to be out of bounds, casting it off the inaugural program as an embarrassment. By its newly articulated standard, any preacher who holds to the faith of the church for the last 2,000 years is persona non grata.

We now see the new Moral McCarthyism in its undisguised and unvarnished reality. If you are a Christian, get ready for the question you will now undoubtedly face: “Do you now or have you ever believed that homosexuality is a sin?” There is nowhere to hide.

Pastor Giglio’s withdrawal from the inauguration ceremony may seem like a small thing.  But small things are often symbols of where we are as a culture.  And this is no small thing.  Mohler and Moore (and otherslike them) are right.  What the Giglio withdrawal shows us is that biblical truth has been blacklisted.  Giglio’s comments in his 1990′s sermon were not hateful, spiteful, or intolerant.  Rather, they were a simple and clear exposition of biblical truth.  But the advocates of homosexual behavior don’t want to hear that truth.  We have now reached a point in our culture where the simple proclamation of Scripture carries public ridicule and censorship.

The Apostle Paul warned about this progression in Romans 1.  He says in Romans 1:18: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”  They suppress the truth because God has made it evident to them that the behavior they approve of and engage in is sinful and violates His law.  And what better way to suppress the truth than to suppress the truth-tellers.

Pastor Giglio faced public ridicule and scorn for simply proclaiming God’s truth.  His example stands as a warning call to all pastors.  The end-goal of the homosexual legal agenda is the silencing of all dissent; the suppression of the truth-tellers in our culture.  Now is not the time to shrink away from biblical truth.  Rather, when it is under attack, pastors as the men of God must run to the battle lines to proclaim even more strongly and winsomely the power of the Gospel.

Alliance Defending Freedom stands with you as you faithfully stand for biblical truth in today’s culture.  If you find your right to proclaim the truth of Scripture is threatened, please contact us so our attorneys can help.  Together, we are as our name proclaims –  an Alliance Defending Freedom.

When a society’s laws recognizing marriage as the union of one man and one woman are changed to honor the unions of same-sex couples, it’s not just the law that changes—it’s also the society itself that changes. A top-down metamorphosis begins in which every aspect of public law changes to match the new definition of marriage.

Today, this is playing out in France with great clarity.

There, Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem is pressing Twitter to help control the speech of the people by censoring messages that run counter to the position of the French government.

In particular, Belkacem wants Twitter to censor messages that run counter to the government’s decision to grant special rights and an elevated status to people who engage in homosexual behavior and persons who are of one gender but claim to be of another.

Belkacem praises the French government for making it illegal to discriminate based on these and other things and calls on Twitter to share the convictions of the government:

It is the honor of France to have gradually included in the penal code punishment of incitement to hatred or violence against a person or group of persons because of their origin, membership or non-membership in an ethnic group, nation, or of their sexual orientation or gender identity…Twitter [needs] to find solutions so that messages sent from our territory, our language, and destination of our citizens do not bear a clear violation of the principles we have set.

Notice—now that France has added “gender identity” to its national non-discrimination policy, unapproved communiqués on the subject of homosexual behavior are punishable by law. Now that France has embraced and attempted to redefine morality on homosexual behavior, speech against such behavior is literally banned.

And Minister Belkacem approves of this. She said as much when she wrote that French officials support “freedom of expression” but not freedom of expression “with impunity.”

There are so many lessons here for Americans who think that such things can never happen in this country. Believing the falsehood that all advocates of homosexual behavior want is to be left alone, one need only read their own words and examine the legal landscape, where dissenters and people of faith are being persecuted by “human rights commissions” and other government authorities who have no tolerance for a different point of view from their own.

Alan is correct.  What we see happening in France is bound to happen here should our society recognize and approve of same-sex “marriage.”  And those who  think that the First Amendment will stand as a shield against such efforts must remember that the Constitution has never deterred the left from pursuing its agenda.  If you have any doubts about that, ask JuleaWard, Elaine Huguenin, Ake Green, and countless others who have had their religious freedom threatened simply because they chose to speak up and live their faith in the public square.

The churches of America must speak up on this issue before it is too late and before the inevitable consequences of recognizing same-sex “marriage” fall on the church.  If churches do not speak up now, then they may not have the opportunity later.  Visit the marriage resource page of our website for information about the efforts to legally protect marriage.  And if you are a pastor, consider preaching a sermon on marriage and why it is important to protect it from radical efforts to redefine this most basic human institution.

Legally speaking, this complaint has no merit and should be summarily dismissed.  As I detailed in an earlier blog, the IRS is not following a policy of non-enforcement.  Churches must remember that the IRS has not given up on auditing churches or enforcing the Johnson Amendment.

The lawsuit also has an insurmoutable legal hurdle in its way.  In order to bring a lawsuit against the federal government, a plaintiff must prove that it will be harmed in a specific and concrete way that is different from the harm experienced generally by the public at large.  It will be difficult, if not impossible, for FFRF to prove that it is being harmed by the IRS’ delay in enforcing the Johnson Amendment.

This lawsuit is really about two things.  First, it is about generating publicity for Freedom From Religion Foundation.  A quick lawsuit, even if it gets dismissed at a later point, can earn some headlines.  But secondly, this lawsuit is about fostering FFRF’s radical agenda.  FFRF, a group of radical separationist atheists, envisions a future where the tax code is used against churches and pastors to punish them for speaking out on issues of candidates and elections.  It wants to see pulpit police in the churches of America, and fines and penalties meted out if a pastor crosses whetever line the government chooses to draw.  Ultimately, FFRF does not want people of faith to have a voice in the public square.  It wantswhat its name says – freedom from religion.  And that is where its agenda is at odds with the fundamental rights of America’s churches and pastors.

I expect for this lawsuit to be dismissed and hope to be able to bring you news of that dismissal.  But do not be fooled, groups like FFRF will not stop and will continue to push their radical agenda of silencing churches and pastors.  America’s churches are a crucial component to the survival of our country.  The voice of the church must be free to impact culture and society and as the liberty of the church is restricted, society and culture suffers and declines.  That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom created the Church Project – to defend the right of the Church to be the Church.  If your church’s rights are threatened or violated, please contact us so our attorneys can help.