Earlier, Kevin Theriot blogged about the Supreme Court’s decision in EEOC v. Hosanna-Tabor.  The case was a phenomenal win for religious freedom and has far-reaching implications.  In analyzing the opinion, one important implication is that the Supreme Court has announced heightened protection for the internal affairs of a church and for situations that affect the faith and mission of the church.

In a court decision from 1990 called Employment Division v. Smith, the Court allowed the government greater latitude to restrict the free exercise of religion.  The Court held in Smith that if a law was neutral as to religion and if it was generally applicable to all people, then the government was allowed to burden the free exercise of religion.  The Smith case marked a drastic departure from the Supreme Court’s earlier precedents which uniformly held that any law, even if that law was neutral and generally applicable, could not burden the free exercise of religion unless the law was justified by a compelling governmental interest that was advanced in the least restrictive means available.  This test is the strongest test available under the constitution.  In applying this test over the years, the Court candidly acknowledged that the test was strong medicine and that many laws burdening the free exercise of religion did not meet this test and were invalidated because they violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

Critics of Pulpit Freedom Sunday frequently cite to Smith and say that the Johnson Amendment is a law that is neutral and generally applicable so churches have no valid legal argument that the Johnson Amendment violates the Free Exercise Clause.  The Hosanna-Tabor decision changes that analysis, though.  In Hosanna-Tabor the Supreme Court retreated some from its analysis in the Smith case.  It stated: “Smith involved government regulation of only outward physical acts.  The present case, in contrast, concerns government interference with an internal church decision that affects the faith and mission of the church itself.”  Essentially, the Supreme Court created a “church exception” to the Smith case.  This means that a law that may in fact be neutral and generally applicable will now have to meet the pre-Smith compelling interest standard if it interferes with internal church matters that affect the faith and mission of the church itself.  The Supreme Court, in effect, broadened and strengthened the Free Exercise rights of churches.

This is good news for pastors chafing under the unconstitutional restriction of the Johnson Amendment.  What affects the faith and mission of the church itself more than a governmental restriction on a pastor’s sermon from the pulpit?  By allowing the government to punish pastors for preaching a certain way from the pulpit, we are allowing the government to drive and change the faith and mission of the church itself.  By allowing the IRS to declare certain topics to be off-limits or to prohibit the application of biblical truth to elections and sermons, we are allowing the government to dictate what the faith and mission of the church is and how it should be applied and proclaimed from the pulpit.

The Hosanna-Tabor case means that the IRS will now have to demonstrate a compelling reason for restricting a pastor’s sermon from the pulpit.  They cannot do so.  In fact, there is no legitimate reason for the Johnson Amendment.  And if you take a moment to understand the history behind the adoption of the Johnson Amendment, you’ll understand just how true that is.  Hosanna-Tabor is one more indication that the Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional and should be struck down at the earliest opportunity.

Pastors should be encouraged by the Supreme Court’s recent decision.  Now is the time to seize the opportunity and reclaim the right of pastors to speak freely from their pulpits without fearing governmental censorship or intimidation.  If you are a pastor, please sign up now to be a part of Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  For everyone else, forward this to your pastor and encourage them to sign up for Pulpit Freedom Sunday as well.  Standing together, we can and will make a difference.

Some time ago, I asked the question, “Do 84% of Pastors believe the Pulpit Initiative is a bad idea?”  The question was in response to a survey conducted of 1,000 protestant pastors by Lifeway Research that asked the pastors whether they agreed with the statement, ”I believe pastors should endorse candidates for public office from the pulpit.”  The survey reported that 84% of the surveyed pastors disagreed that a pastor should endorse political candidates from the pulpit.  Some bloggers picked up the results and trumpeted them, arguing that they proved that the Pulpit Initiative was wrong and that ADF should just give up and agree that it was on the wrong side of public opinion.

I responded to the research (and the critics of the Pulpit Initiative) by stating that Lifeway had asked the wrong question.  The Pulpit Initiative was never intended to answer the question whether a pastor should or should not endorse political candidates from the pulpit.  Rather, it was intended to answer the question of who should make that decision for churches.  Should the government make that decision for churches or should churches make that decision for themselves depending on their own church doctrine and beliefs?

I am happy to report that Lifeway Research conducted another poll of 1,000 pastors and asked the right question.  They asked the pastors whether they agreed with the statement that “The government should regulate sermons by revoking a church’s tax exemption if its pastor approves of or criticizes candidates based on the church’s moral beliefs or theology.”  86% of pastors disagreed with the statement.  That is almost 9 out of 10 pastors who disagreed with the idea that government should be allowed to regulate the content of a pastor’s sermon.  That’s good news.

In the end, the constitutional liberties of pastors and churches are not subject to polls and popular debate.  But the poll results are interesting and demonstrate that pastors “get it.”  They understand that it is not the job of the government to review the content of a pastor’s sermon to determine whether it violates some restriction and is worthy of punishment.  The very idea that some government official can determine whether to mete out punishment to a church based solely on what a pastor says from the pulpit is repugnant and offensive to these pastors.

And, in the end, that is the only question Pulpit Freedom Sunday is intended to answer.  The goal of Pulpit Freedom Sunday is intended to stop the government from acting as the “orthodoxy police.”  As the Supreme Court stated way back in 1943, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in … religion.”

Pastor, if you have not already signed up to participate in Pulpit Freedom Sunday, please sign up today.  Become part of the solution and stand with hundreds of other pastors across the country who are reclaiming their ability to speak freely from the pulpit without fearing government censorship or control.

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The realm of the Church is being invaded by the realm of the political today.  This might seem like a strange statement, but consider this example:  Thirty years ago, a pastor could preach a sermon from Scripture that marriage was between one man and one woman and no one would have been concerned or would have even thought to complain to the IRS that the Church was violating the Johnson Amendment in the tax code by speaking politically.  Yet today, if a pastor were to stand in the pulpit and preach a sermon that says marriage is between one man and one woman, that sermon would be instantly deemed “political,” and somehow church-goers, and the culture at large, would assume that the Church was wrong and should stay out of “politics.”

Some of this is, of course, a function of the culture war over fundamental issues such as the definition of marriage, the sanctity of human life, and religious freedom.  As these issues are fought in the public square, they frequently become politicized by a culture that increasingly turns to government to demand answers to these most fundamental of questions.  Yet a pervasively darker consequence of these fundamental cultural conflicts is that the Church is frequently told that when culture deems an issue “political,” it somehow becomes off-limits for the Church to address without someone screaming that the Church has violated the Johnson Amendment and is endangering its tax-exempt status.

Consider these examples:  In Maine, after the governor signed a same-sex “marriage” bill into law, the Catholic Church began to gather signatures for a voter referendum on the law.  A homosexual advocacy group  complained to the IRS that the Church was violating the tax code by gathering signatures even though the Church is allowed to conduct limited lobbying like this under the Internal Revenue Code.  A spokesperson for the group stated, “By their individuals going on television, stating what they were doing, they’re engaging in lobbying activities which is prohibited by the IRS for tax exempt purposes.”

Or consider a starker example: Pastor Gus Booth from Warroad Community Church in Minnesota preached a sermon in 2008 to his congregation where he spoke about what Scripture says regarding abortion and same-sex “marriage.”  He then compared the candidates running for office in light of their positions on those issues and made a specific recommendation as to who the congregation should vote for and against based solely on how the candidates aligned themselves with Scripture’s teaching.  Americans United for Separation of Church and State immediately complained to the IRS that pastor Booth’s sermon violated the Johnson Amendment.  The IRS launched an investigation of the Church for what pastor Booth said during his sermon.  Stop for just a moment – did you read what I just wrote?  The IRS investigated a pastor for something he said during a sermon!

These examples, and many others that I don’t have space to list, demonstrate the growing conflict between the biblical and the political.  As  issues addressed in the Bible are deemed “political” by today’s culture, churches will be pressured to remain silent on these topics or risk facing the ire of radical groups, or an investigation by the IRS.  Think back to the example at the beginning of this article.  Should a pastor preach a sermon where he proclaims the Biblical truth that marriage is between one man and one woman only or should he remain silent because that issue has been deemed political?

It seems to me that today’s pastors have a choice to make?  To preach faithfully the counsel of God’s Word on all issues addressed by Scripture, or to self-censor and remain silent simply because some issues have been deemed “political” and therefore off limits as a sermon topic.  Dr. David Jeremiah put the issue succinctly when he recently stated, “There are so many issues that are so part of the foundation of Christianity, and not to stand for those things is to be unfaithful.  If we’re only faithful for the things that aren’t being tested, and not faithful for the things that are being tested, then we are not faithful….We can no longer be silent.  If we don’t speak up, nobody is going to speak up.”  Dr. Jeremiah went on to highlight just how deeply theological this issue is when he stated, “Your mandate can never come from the culture.  It must come from the Word of God.”

Or consider how Bishop Harry Jackson put it:

In the next decade or so what America will be for the next hundred years, I believe will be decided.  Would you want to be someone who stood by and did nothing and had no voice in changing America for good, that lives through years of  regret that you did nothing when you could have spoken out?  Or will you be someone, no matter how small your congregation is or how large your congregation is, who will take up the challenge to follow Christ and endure momentary discomfort with trying to figure out how to articulate the message?  That is a little price to pay for the benefit that we could bring to the entire culture.”

The choice before America’s pastors is clear.  The only question is, pastor, what choice will you make?

The stark choice confronting America’s pastors is why ADF created the Pulpit Initiative.  For too long pastors have lived in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation as the Johnson Amendment has been used as a weapon of censorship against the Church.  It is beyond time to remove this restriction and to restore a pastor’s right to preach freely without fear of any government censorship, intimidation, or reprisal.  The Pulpit Initiative is a plan to launch a litigation challenge against the Johnson Amendment to have it declared unconstitutional as it applies to a pastor’s sermon.  Because the unassailable fact is that no government official, high or petty, has any right to censor a pastor’s sermon, or threaten a pastor with any kind of punishment for something that is said from the pulpit during a sermon.

Pastor, visit our website to learn more about the Pulpit Initiative, and sign up to participate in Pulpit Freedom Sunday this year on October 2.  Make your choice and stand with hundreds of other pastors across the country who are being faithful by speaking out on the things that are being tested.

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Over at Dakota Voice, Bob Ellis has an interesting post that details the history of politics from the pulpit in America.  Bob does a good job of detailing many of the stories where pastors in American history spoke forcefully and with great conviction from their pulpits about political matters.  From the very beginning of our country, pastors spoke from their pulpits about matters of American life and politics that intersected with morality and religion.  After reviewing this extensive history, Bob concludes:

Seeing this issue in the light of the U.S. Constitution and history,  it is no wonder the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) launched it’s “Pulpit Initiative” two years ago to challenge the unconstitutional 1954 tax amendment and restore pastoral freedom to America’s churches.

I couldn’t agree more.  If a page of history is worth a volume of logic, then the many pages of history that are filled with stories of pastoral intervention in political matters should be an open and shut case for the logic of jettisoning the Johnson Amendment.

In his excellent book, Why Churches Should Not Pay Taxes, Dean Kelley illustrates the active involvement of churches in American politics:

Throughout the history of the nation – and long before – churches have been active in helping to shape the public policy of the commonwealth in ways they believed God desired.  They were instrumental in setting the stage for the obtaining of independence at its beginning, when the “black regiment” – as James Otis called them – of the dissenting clergy thundered against the tyranny of King George from their pulpits.  A few decades later, the churches, acting corporately, brought an end to the practices of dueling by getting prohibitions against it written into the constitutions of twenty-one states, and no one conceived that this activity had any bearing on their tax exemption.  Churches were active in the effort to abolish slavery (though by the time of the Civil War there were religious apologists for slavery in the churches of the South).  Churches pressed for laws against gambling, Sabbath-breaking, alcoholic beverages, prostitution, and child labor.  They have worked for laws advancing labor organizing, woman suffrage, civil rights, and family welfare.

In none of these instances… was such public-spirited activity of the churches conceived to jeopardize their tax exemption.

History is replete with examples of churches and pastors speaking freely from their pulpits about the great social and moral issues of our day – including the selection of our national leaders.  That all stopped with the passage of the Johnson Amendment through clearly illegitimate means.  It is time to turn back the page of history to restore the constitutional rights of pastors and churches as active participants in our culture.

Pastors – learn more about this effort and sign up to participate at www.pulpitfreedom.org.

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It seems as though a new article comes out each year arguing that religious organizations should not be tax exempt if they oppose a particular politically popular cause, such as abortion or same-sex “marriage.”  What many don’t realize is the IRS already conditions church tax exemption on the pastor’s willingness to forego telling his flock what the Bible has to say about the fitness of a particular candidate for office.  The Johnson Amendment prohibits pastors from endorsing or opposing a candidate for office from the pulpit, and this provision can be violated with “code words.”  So a pastor who encourages the congregation to only vote for candidates who are pro-life could be viewed by the IRS to have violated the Johnson Amendment and the church’s tax exempt status could be revoked.  This law is clearly unconstitutional as applied to churches.  ADF’s pulpit initiative is an effort to challenge it in court.  Pastors can learn more about this effort and sign up to participate at www.pulpitfreedom.org.  Information on what pastors can and cannot say from the pulpit is also available in a resource called “Guidelines for ‘Political Activities’ of Churches and Pastors” on the speakupmovement.org/church resource page.

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