For liberals living outside the world of the Christian right, it may not seem like a major change. On Monday, the IRS revoked a long-standing rule that stripped tax-exempt status from churches that endorse political candidates. From a horse-race view of elections, this may not make a difference. While conservative pastors may have technically avoided the words “vote for Donald Trump” or “vote for Republicans” in the past, the expectation was transmitted to followers in ways that weren’t exactly subtle: Calling for the reinstatement of prayer in public schools, for “a time of national repentance” in America and even for Supreme Court vacancies to allow for the appointment of “righteous” judges.
Nor was it just that right-wing ministers were expressing Republican-shaped views about everything from LGBTQ rights to tax laws from the pulpit. Outside church walls, the massive ecosphere of Christian media hammered the message day in and day out: Democrats are demonic, and voting for them will send you to hell.
Predictably, many on the Christian right rejoiced over the decision. Robert Jeffress, a Texas megachurch pastor who claimed the IRS investigated him for supporting Donald Trump, told ABC News, “The IRS has no business dictating what can be said from the pulpit.” Craig DeRoche of the Christian Post argued, falsely, that the rule existed “not to protect democracy, but to silence opposition.”
They may come to rue the day they took what amounts to payola to champion Trump ahead of Jesus Christ.
It’s not a surprise that right-wing ministers are salivating at the chance to cater to powerful politicians while simultaneously keeping more money in their pockets. But this decision is shortsighted, particularly if they want to stymie the already significant losses in membership rolls that Christian churches have seen in the past couple of decades. They may come to rue the day they took what amounts to payola to champion Trump ahead of Jesus Christ.
Frankly, it’s hard to imagine that Trump will benefit from this politically, even if he, as he clearly hopes, gets the go-ahead from the Supreme Court for an illegal campaign for a third term. He has already captured the white evangelical vote to the tune of 80 percent in 2024, and although his approval numbers have slipped with most other demographics, these supporters have remained steadfast. Even if ministers had been allowed to endorse in the last presidential election cycle, it’s unlikely Trump would have done better among white evangelicals.
But Trump has an insatiable need for praise, and he has long been fixated on repealing the Johnson Amendment, which is the rule that prevented ministers from open endorsement. For Republicans in state and local races, this is a big deal. Campaign finance spending will go much further if directed to churches, where donors get a tax deduction, instead of to political parties and action groups, which cannot offer that benefit.
For churches, it may prove to be a double-edged sword. As multiple experts pointed out, this new rule creates a powerful incentive for big money donors to take over churches and turn them into arms of a political campaign. “This opens a huge loophole for even more money in politics,” Jane Mayer of the New Yorker said on X, adding that it “gives donors tax breaks for supporting political candidates.”
“There’s nothing to stop wealthy donors from funneling millions into churches to support their preferred political candidate,” Steven Emmert of the Secular Coalition of America said in a statement. University of Pittsburgh law professor Philip Hackney agreed, telling ABC News, “It has the potential to corrupt their mission, more towards politics and away from their true beliefs.”
If donors do funnel money to churches in this way, they will likely want a return on their investment. Ministers and churches will have less time and energy for the spiritual needs of the flock. More resources will go toward campaigning for candidates. Even for parishioners who share right-wing political views, that’s going to be exhausting. Why go to church when it’s just a long political ad for the GOP? Sure, some will think that’s just dandy. They will leave services convinced they are called to engage in “spiritual warfare”: To restore justice and righteousness to the country, and to take more public stands against what they see as demonic activity in politics. But as churches become less about Jesus and even more about Trump, plenty of others will drift away.
Polls show this is a real danger. As Bob Smietana and Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service reported Tuesday, most believers of all religious stripes oppose ending the Johnson Amendment: “That includes white evangelicals (62%) as well as Black Protestants (59%), white mainline or nonevangelical Protestants (77%), white Catholics (79%), Hispanic Catholics (78%), Hispanic Protestants (72%) and Jewish Americans (77%).”
“Pulpit endorsements will do as much to erode trust in clergy and undermine the sanctity of our religious practices as they will to the health of our democracy,” Rev. Dr. Shannon Fleck, executive director of Faithful America, said in a statement. “Sanctuaries are meant for worship, not partisan agendas and politicking. Church offering plates are meant for tithes and charity, not political contributions.”
Fleck is not alone. Few non-evangelical or liberal churches have reacted to this news, but those that have mostly disagreed with the decision. Most seem to understand the dangers of losing their independence or angering their congregants.
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Many people in conservative evangelical churches, especially young people, already harbor doubts about the right-wing beliefs promoted by their pastors. The growing “exvangelical” movement is full of people who gradually drifted away from their churches because they objected to racism, homophobia or other right-wing views. While losses in membership have slowed in the past few years, the cumulative trend for at least two decades shows a rather steep decline in Christian affiliation. In 1990, 90 percent of Americans called themselves “Christian.” That number has fallen to 63%, largely because of people choosing to identify as having no formal religion, or choosing to practice their beliefs on a more personal basis.
A quick way to restart the exodus from the pews is to make the church even more overtly partisan, rather than spiritual. Many people who have disagreements with their pastors may stick around because they value the community their church offers, or because they cherish a shared faith in Jesus over political beliefs. But if community and Christ take second place to politics, those folks will stand to lose their reasons for staying.
The era of Trumpism is defined by greed and short-term thinking. Republican politicians routinely sell out once-cherished political beliefs to cater to Trump’s whims. Business leaders sacrificed long-term economic stability by pandering to the president. Law firms abandoned their commitment to the Constitution to get in his good graces. Media companies axed basic journalistic ethics — and their reputations — to buy off Trump. Churches that greedily grab at this opportunity to make money from political donors will be just the latest example of this era.
I’m not a Christian, but I can’t help pointing out that the Bible warns against this in Galatians 6:7: “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Reaping season has already begun for some, as we see with Trump-complicit law firms losing clients or Trump-bribing billionaires finding he will renege on the deal you thought you had with him. For churches, the process will be more gradual. They cannot serve two masters, Trump and Jesus Christ. They’ve already lost supporters by leaning too far into political advocacy. Now that they’ve forsaken the last obstacle to selling out entirely, they will likely lose many more.
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