WASHINGTON (RNS) — Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and 11 other Democrats sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging him not to pursue a proposed legal agreement that would allow some churches to endorse political candidates.
The letter, which was sent to Bessent on Thursday (Nov. 20), focused on an ongoing legal case concerning a provision to the United States tax code that bars nonprofits from being involved in political campaigns.
Last year, the National Religious Broadcasters and a pair of Texas churches filed a lawsuit challenging the statute, known as the Johnson Amendment, arguing that the Internal Revenue Service ignores political activity of some charities and threatens to punish others. The Trump administration proposed a settlement in July that would allow pastors to endorse from the pulpit. Endorsing from the pulpit during a worship service, lawyers for the IRS argued, is not intervening or participating in an election.
But the letter from Democratic lawmakers warned that such an agreement, which is set to be discussed in a hearing next week, would fracture a “foundation stone in the nation’s wall of separation between church and state.”
“This reinterpretation is not permissible under the statute as enacted and sustained by Congress; presents serious constitutional concerns as a potential violation of the Equal Protection Clause; fails to disclose any fiscal effects of reinterpreting the law; and sidelines the principled and compelling opposition expressed by thousands of nonprofits, houses of worship and faith-based organizations that would be harmed by adopting this proposal,” the letter reads.
The statute is rarely enforced as it is, but signers of the letter argued that doing away with it entirely is a ste …