In 2008, ADF launched the Pulpit Initiative, which is designed to restore the right of pastors to speak freely from the pulpit on any and all issues addressed by Scripture.
Historically, churches have emphatically, and with great passion, spoken Scriptural truth from the pulpit about government and culture. Historians have stated that America owes its independence in great degree to the moral force of the pulpit. Pastors have proclaimed Scriptural truth throughout history on great moral issues such as slavery, women’s suffrage, child labor and prostitution. Pastors have also spoken from the pulpit with great frequency for and against various candidates for government office.
All that changed in 1954 with the passage of the "Johnson amendment" which restricted the right of churches and pastors to speak Scriptural truth about candidates for office. The Johnson amendment was proposed by then-Senator Lyndon Johnson, and it changed the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit churches and other non-profit organizations from supporting or opposing a candidate for office. After the Johnson amendment passed, churches faced a choice of either continuing their tradition of speaking out or silencing themselves in order to retain their church’s tax exemption. The Internal Revenue Service, in conjunction with radical organizations like Americans United for Separation of Church and State, have used the Johnson amendment to create an atmosphere of intimidation and fear for any church that dares to speak Scriptural truth about candidates for office or issues.
It is time for the intimidation and threats to end. Churches and pastors have a constitutional right to speak freely and truthfully from the pulpit – even on candidates and voting – without fearing loss of their tax exemption.
Pulpit Freedom Sunday 2009 will expand the Initiative in two ways:
|
FOR CHURCHES ADDRESSING
CURRENT GOVERNMENT
OFFICIALS AND ISSUES
Churches have the right to address sitting governmental officials without endangering
their tax exempt status.
ADF will encourage churches and pastors to exercise their right to comment on current government officials and the issues they support. Every church should feel safe in commenting on the moral strengths and weaknesses of sitting politicians and the issues they advocate.
|
FOR CHURCHES ADDRESSING
CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE
AND THEIR ISSUES
The Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional
as applied to prohibit any part of a pastor’s
speech from the pulpit.
Some pastors may choose to exercise their full range of constitutional rights in preaching from the pulpit which may bring them into conflict with the vague standards contained in the Johnson Amendment.
|