During a recent speech, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said that he will abolish an amendment that restricts the religious freedom of churches.
Trump was referring to the Johnson Amendment which was sponsored by then-Senator Lyndon Johnson.
As ChristianHeadlines.com previously reported,
the Johnson Amendment states that churches and other religious
organizations cannot, “Participate in, or intervene in (including the
publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on
behalf of – or in opposition to – any candidate for public office."
Trump, who has been courting the evangelical vote, stated, “We're going
to get rid of that horrible Johnson amendment and we're going to let
evangelicals, we're going to let Christians and Jews and people of
religion talk without being afraid to talk.”
“We don’t have a [Christian] lobby because they are afraid, because
they don’t want to lose their tax status,” he continued. “So I am going
to work like hell to get rid of that prohibition and we are going to
have the strongest Christian lobby and it’s going to happen. And it’s
going to happen. This took place during the presidency of Lyndon Johnson
and it has had a terrible, chilling effect.”
While many Christians praised Trump’s vow to repeal the amendment,
David Cay Johnston, writing for TheDailyBeast.com notes that Trump is
taking the real implications of the Johnson Amendment out of context.
In reality, writes Johnston, the Johnson Amendment was part of a
renovation of the tax code that prohibits nonprofit, tax-exempt
organizations from turning their primary activity into a political one.
This, notes Johnston, actually protects people from being forced to
subsidize donations to a candidate they do not support.
Johnston cautions Christians to reconsider their allegiance to Trump
and to recognize that what he espouses doesn’t actually line up with
Christian values.
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