[tombert]

Nearly every Baptist church/preacher I have seen explicitly endorsed Donald Trump in 2020, and calls Joe Biden an election thief (or one of a dozen other conspiracies).

My understanding is that this is in direct violation of their tax-free status [1]. Maybe we should actually start enforcing this.

[1] https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/charities-churches-and-politics

EDIT:

I couldn't remember the name of the thing that states this, but here it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Amendment

[akira2501]

Are you suggesting that they used church funds or facilities to provide that endorsement, or that they arranged a specific service for the sole purpose of providing that endorsement?

There's a massive difference between an individual putting forth an opinion, and them using an organization to specifically promote that opinion.

[tombert]

I don't know much about the inner personal finances of Kenneth Copeland and his church, but at least during the sermons he very explicitly endorsed Trump and opposed Biden.

If Kenneth Copeland just had a "Trump 2020" sign on his front yard, then of course that shouldn't affect their 501c3 filing, but this was during sermons, during church hours.

[tarotuser]

That may be the law, but I'm aware of plenty of church leaders publicly saying a whole bunch of "vote for X candidate" (lets be fair; trump), with absolutely no repercussions.

I also found no evidence of any church losing its non-profit status for electioneering in this manner.

[bigtex]

I assume this also applies to the churches who had Raphel Warnock on stage and told the congregants to vote for him. FYI, he is a democrat.

[mrguyorama]

I would be giddy if everyone who did something bad regardless of political affiliation would get justice.

[tombert]

I think it's bad when any church specifically endorses or opposes any candidate, Democrat, Republican, Communist, or anything in between.

This is also what the law says if they want to keep their tax-free filing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Amendment

It would be impossible to draw the line at "politics", because of course basically everything can be considered "political". If they want to endorse a specific candidate, that's fine, but then they should pay taxes like the rest of us.

[OrvalWintermute]

I live in a deep blue area much of the local churches, synagogues, and mosques, support Joe Biden. I've got no problem with that, or the reverse - some of these views just reflect their interpretation of their holy faith through their own perception.

I'd rather we not go after religious organizations unless they are actually doing something criminal, sex crimes, financial crimes, etc.

[tombert]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Amendment

It is explicitly against the rules to have the tax-free 5013c and endorse a political candidate.

If the churches explicitly endorse or oppose specific candidates, whether it's Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or Ross Perot, they are in violation of their tax-free status.

Now, you are of course free to disagree with the rules, but that's what the rules are as of right now.

Personally, I think it's a reasonable place to draw a line.