IRS says churches can endorse political candidates to congregations

Churches and other houses of worship registered as tax-exempt nonprofits can endorse political candidates to their congregations, the IRS said on Monday.

The decision, first reported in The New York Times, was communicated in a court filing intended to settle a lawsuit filed by two Texas churches and a group of Christian broadcasters.

501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations have long been prohibited from endorsing candidates or otherwise intervening in campaigns for political offices as a condition of their tax-exempt status. 

In its court filing, the IRS said endorsing candidates neither constituted taking part or intervening in a political campaign, as the agency’s code currently describes.

“Bona fide communications internal to a house of worship, between the house of worship and its congregation, in connection with religious services, do neither of those things, any more

than does a family discussion concerning candidates,” the agency wrote. 

The IRS also noted that it has not generally enforced prohibitions on endorsing candidates, referred to as the Johnson Amendment, in the context of worship services. A 2022 investigation by ProPublica and the Texas Tribune found that at least 18 churches had endorsed political candidates, and the agency largely looked the other way.

The plaintiffs who sued the IRS had previously asked for an even broader exemption allowing all nonprofits to endorse candidates to their members.

In its court filing, the IRS said that prohibiting churches from endorsing candidates would create “serious tension” with the First Amendment.

“For many houses of worship, the exercise of their religious beliefs includes teaching or instructing their congregations regarding all aspects of life, including guidance concerning the impact of faith on the choices inherent in electoral politics,” it wrote.