USA: New GOP Platform Aims To Make The Christian Right Even More Powerful

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Churches and other tax-exempt institutions are prohibited from political organizing, but Republicans want to change that.

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Huffington Post
By Antonia Blumberg | July 15, 2016

Republicans met in Cleveland this week to finalize their platform in preparation for Donald Trump’s nomination for president. Among the new GOP platform’s highlights ― which include extreme anti-LGBT measures ― is a proposal to repeal a 50-year-old tax law that prohibits churches and other tax-exempt organizations from political organizing.

“This is going to create a revolution among Christian leaders, nonprofit universities, and nonprofits in general,” Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Christian-based Liberty University who has endorsed Donald Trump for president, said in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Wednesday.

In 1954, Congress passed an amendment proposed by then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson to ban 501(c)(3) organizations ― which includes both churches and charities ― from engaging in political campaign activity. In 1987 Congress adjusted the language of what has come to be known as the “Johnson Amendment” to clarify that the ban applies to statements both endorsing and opposing candidates.

Some believe the law violates religious leaders’ First Amendment rights, but others feel it maintains the integrity of the tax system under which churches and nonprofits do not pay taxes on their income and contributions made to them are tax-deductible by donors.

The Internal Revenue Service upholds the prohibition accordingly, investigating churches and faith leaders who use their tax-exempt platforms to engage in political organizing.

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