In a shocking blow to everyone who thinks the Bible is just a very long, dusty voter guide, a federal judge in Tyler just told Texas churches they can’t have their communion wine and drink it, too. A bunch of Christian groups tried to sue their way out of the Johnson Amendment—the pesky 70-year-old law that says if you want to stay a tax-exempt nonprofit, you have to stop acting like a local precinct chair during the 10:00 AM service.
The Trump administration, in a move that surprised absolutely no one, actually sided with the churches. They tried to strike a “deal” where the IRS would just pinky-swear to look the other way while pastors spent Sunday morning explaining why the Almighty has a very specific preference for who sits on the County Commissioners Court. It was a classic Texas-sized attempt to turn the pulpit into a podium without paying the cover charge that every other political organization in the country has to shell out.
But Judge Cam Barker—who, ironically, was appointed by Trump—wasn’t buying the “we’re being persecuted because we can’t endorse candidates” sob story. He basically told the plaintiffs that if they feel “compelled” by God to tell their congregation which lever to pull, they are more than welcome to do so; they just have to give up their tax-exempt status and pay taxes like the rest of us peasants. It turns out “religious freedom” doesn’t actually include a “get out of IRS jail free” card for electioneering.
Despite the IRS currently having the enforcement energy of a Lubbock road construction crew on a Friday afternoon, this ruling keeps the “bulwark” in place against turning every house of worship into a partisan headquarters. While some pastors are already throwing fits and preparing to “amp up their rhetoric” anyway, the rest of us are just relieved we might get through a Sunday without being told that Jesus has a favorite candidate for the Lubbock ISD school board.
If the Holy Spirit is really giving out voting tips, does that count as an undisclosed campaign contribution, or do we just file it under “prophetic overhead”?
