Pulpit Initiative Case Dropped By IRS
The Alliance Defense Fund has championed an effort to get the 1954 Johnson amendment to the 501c(3) IRS code declared unconstitutional. The concept is simple: Government should have NO influence over what Pastors are allowed to say in the body of Christ.
For almost 200 years of our nation's existence, it was always completely legal for pastors to speak their mind from the pulpit AND Churches were automatically exempt from taxes. After the 1954 amendment to the IRS code was added, regulating non-profits, the government has assumed the position of threatening to take away a church's non-profit status if they openly endorse or oppose a political candidate or party. In addition, our government has started to view a church's non-profit status as something it grants if the church behaves properly, rather than as it has always historically been, automatically tax exempt for being a church. Churches historically have always been regarded as a special institution in our nation that had a special place of reverence and respect.
Now, however, there is an increasing hostility towards the church and a growing sentiment within government that the church should be regulated like any other entity. The body of Christ needs to rally together and stand up for our historical freedoms; namely, the freedom of religion, also known as Americans' first freedom (since it was the first freedom delineated in the Bill of Rights in our Constitution).
See this article for more info
And see Alliance Defense Fund's website on Churches involvement in the Pulpit Initiative