Another assault has been launched on the Johnson Amendment, and we need your help!
Remember, the Johnson Amendment is the law that prohibits churches and other nonprofits from endorsing political candidates. Your congressional representatives need to know that their constituents want them to protect the Johnson Amendment. Please use our automated system to take action today by urging your congressional representative to stay strong in supporting this amendment.
Earlier this congressional session, an attempt to repeal the Johnson Amendment was removed from the GOP tax overhaul in part because the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that eliminating the Johnson Amendment would cost $2.1 billion. This is because without the Johnson Amendment, millionaires could pour political contributions into churches, tax-exempt, rather than contributing to super PACs or political parties.
The new attack on the Johnson Amendment will most likely be only a partial repeal, but it would still open the floodgates for billions of dollars in dark, unregulated political contributions to flow through churches. Americans overwhelmingly oppose this lack of transparency or caps on contribution in elections, but many have been misled into thinking that the Johnson Amendment limits churches’ free speech rights. Legislators need to hear that voters understand this issue and want the Johnson Amendment protected.
A 2015 New York Times poll showed that 75 percent of Americans think that groups not affiliated with political candidates that spend money during political campaigns should be required to publicly disclose their contributors. And an even larger percentage favor limiting the amount of money individuals can contribute to political campaigns.
Although you may have recently contacted your congressional representatives about this issue, please remind them that it is important to you. Even a partial “roll back” of the Johnson Amendment would be disastrous.