Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission Pushes to Repeal the Johnson Amendment

The White House’s Religious Liberty Commission submitted a report to President Donald Trump on June 26 that recommends eliminating the 1954 Johnson Amendment, a law that bars churches and other tax-exempt nonprofits from endorsing political candidates or channeling deductible donations into partisan campaigns. The commission’s language frames the change as an expansion of “religious freedom,” while critics argue it would turn churches into political-action entities.

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The Johnson Amendment has been the “last structural barrier between the American church and full absorption into the machinery of partisan politics,” according to commentator Andrew Daugherty, a Baptist minister and guest writer for *Alternet*. Under current law, churches retain tax-exempt status only if they refrain from candidate endorsements, a trade-off that keeps religious institutions separate from direct campaign financing.

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Daugherty contends that removing the amendment would create “tax-exempt political spending, passed through the offering plate and invisible to the public record,” effectively allowing churches to operate as undisclosed political-action committees. He warns that such a shift would erode the historic “separation of church and state,” describing the commission’s vision of “partnership” as what history would label a “state church.” The commentator also cites a 2024 Pew Research study showing that “the fastest-growing religious identity in America is ‘none,’” and notes a sharp decline in church attendance, suggesting that the Christian right’s pursuit of political power has damaged its broader credibility.

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• “The most efficient campaign finance vehicle in American history is tax-exempt, requires no donor disclosure and is available in virtually every zip code in the country. For 70 years, it has operated under one rule: It cannot endorse a political candidate,” — Andrew Daugherty, guest writer

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• “In other words, the amendment is the last structural barrier between the American church and full absorption into the machinery of partisan politics,” — Andrew Daugherty

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• “This is tax-exempt political spending, passed through the offering plate and invisible to the public record,” — Andrew Daugherty

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• “The separation has existed because both institutions require protection from each other. When such safeguards are removed, the bridge comes with a toll booth, and the commission is waving one side through,” — Andrew Daugherty

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• “This is state power reinforcing evangelical Christianity, and evangelical Christianity legitimizing state power. The commission calls it ‘partnership.’ History calls it a state church.” — Andrew Daugherty

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If enacted, the proposed repeal would allow churches to funnel tax-deductible contributions directly into partisan campaigns, eliminating donor-disclosure requirements that currently safeguard electoral transparency. Advocates argue this expands religious liberty; opponents fear it blurs constitutional boundaries and could accelerate the decline of organized religious participation in the United States.

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