(OSV News) — The Catholic Church “maintains its stance of not endorsing or opposing political candidates,” said U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spokesperson Chieko Noguchi, following a recent court case in which a long-standing federal ban against such activity appeared to have been partly relaxed.
Noguchi issued the statement July 8, a day after the Internal Revenue Service agreed in a court filing that a house of worship addressing its congregation about electoral politics in the context of religious faith does not violate the Johnson Amendment.
Approved by Congress in 1954, the amendment prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations — a type of tax-exempt nonprofit under U.S. tax code, and the typical corporate structure for churches, worship communities and charities in the nation — from engaging in political campaign activity. In 1987, Congress clarified that the ban includes statements opposing candidates.
Johnson Amendment lawsuit
In August 2024, the National Religious Broadcasters — which describes itself as a “nonpartisan, international association of Christian communicators” that promotes both members’ free speech rights and professional development — and several other plaintiffs filed suit against the IRS, claiming the Johnson Amendment violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
On July 7, the NRB and the IRS jointly filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for a court-approved settlement, with the motion stating, “When a house of worship in good faith speaks to its congregation, through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with religious services, concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith, it neither ‘participate(s)’ nor ‘intervene(s)’ in a ‘political campaign,’ within the ordinary meaning of those words.”
The motion likened such “bona fide communications internal to a house of worship, between the house of worship and its congregation, in connection with religious services,” to “a family discussion concerning candidates.”
In addition, said the motion, “this interpretation of the Johnson Amendment is in keeping with the IRS’s treatment of the Johnson Amendment in practice.”
However, said Noguchi, “The IRS was addressing a specific case, and it doesn’t change how the Catholic Church engages in public debate.”
Roger Colinvaux, a professor of law at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law and an expert on nonprofit organizations and federal income tax, told OSV News that while the stipulation in this NRB-IRS suit is “obviously binding for the parties,” there is uncertainty as to “the legal authority beyond this case.”
“All that’s been agreed to is that the IRS won’t enforce the Johnson Amendment against these plaintiffs,” he said. “And they’ve kind of announced this new standard, but it doesn’t appear as a revenue ruling, it doesn’t appear as a regulation — it’s just part of this consent agreement.”
Additional guidance needed
Colinvaux added that “if this really is the IRS’s position generally, then they need to follow it up with some guidance, because all we have right now is just this one document, which was filed in this one legal case.”
An internal USCCB memo — written by the bishops’ general counsel to state Catholic conference directors, and seen by OSV News — noted that the consent judgment “narrowly resolves a broader request for declaratory relief initially brought before last year’s election, which sought to include all 501(c)(3) organizations despite being led by religious groups.”
The original request “involved very specific factual scenarios and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas,” said the memo.
The memo also stated that “since the release of this judgment, the IRS has not responded to requests for comment nor issued any additional guidance,” although “the agreement appears consistent with the IRS’s historical enforcement approach (or lack thereof) in this area.”
“While credible First Amendment arguments have long existed regarding the protection of speech from the pulpit, this judgment represents the clearest concession by the IRS, indicating concerns over the constitutionality of the Johnson Amendment,” said the memo. “Its decision to concede at this time likely reflects current administration priorities and an evaluation of potential Supreme Court appeals.”
The USCCB general counsel also recommended “maintaining our current stance of refraining from endorsing political candidates until additional guidance is provided by the IRS.”
The National Council of Nonprofits strongly supports the Johnson Amendment, stating on its website the measure is a means of ensuring “organizations dedicated to the public good in communities remain above the political fray.”
“The Church seeks to help Catholics form their conscience in the Gospel so they might discern which candidates and policies would advance the common good,” Noguchi said in her statement. “The Catholic Church maintains its stance of not endorsing or opposing political candidates.
