New lawsuit asks why nonprofit newspapers can endorse candidates but churches can't
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 22. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
A group of evangelical broadcasters who hosted Donald Trump at their national conference earlier this year is suing the Internal Revenue Service over the so-called Johnson Amendment, a tax law that bars nonprofits from supporting political candidates.
Lawyers for the National Religious Broadcasters, along with two Baptist churches and a conservative group called Intercessors for America, argue in their suit that the ban on engaging in politics restricts their freedom of speech and freedom of religion. They further argue that the IRS ignores the politicking of some charities, while threatening to punish others.
In particular, lawyers for the groups claim that newspapers and other news outlets that have become nonprofits in recent years, such as the Philadelphia Inquirer, endorse candidates. Why can’t churches or other Christian groups, they want to know, do the same?
