Houses of worship can now endorse candidates. What are the implications?

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

Prominent evangelical Christian thinker Ed Stetzer talks about a legal settlement reached this week between the Internal Revenue Service and the National Religious Broadcasters organization that allows houses of worship and other nonprofits to endorse political candidates without losing their tax-exempt status. Then, Ricky Pruitt of the Kerrville Church of Christ in Texas spoke at a vigil on Wednesday night to remember the more than 120 people who were killed during last week's floods. He shares how the community is helping one another. And, Russia's hours-long assault on Ukraine overnight left at least two people dead. We get the latest from NPR's Joanna Kakissis and hear about Trump's changing policies from NPR's Tom Bowman.

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
0:05.4	RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.
0:12.1	Learn more at RWJF.org.
0:16.8	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:21.5	Campaign finance laws would now seem not to apply as readily to congregations and, I assume, other 501c3s.
0:29.9	Could a new tax rule turn churches into political action committees?
0:48.8	No. Action Committees. It's Thursday, July 10th, and this is here and now anytime, from NPR and
0:53.4	WBWR.
0:55.1	I'm Chris Bentley.
1:03.3	Today on the show, hundreds of people gathered last night for a prayer vigil to remember those lost in the Texas flooding. We'll check in with a local pastor. Sunday morning, finally, I was
1:09.4	able to grieve and to really weep during our church
1:14.2	service, just for the heaviness of it all. Also, Russia's air assault on Ukraine continues. We'll get the
1:22.3	latest from Keith. You know, Ukraine's military is just going through these stockpiles of air defense systems and munitions.
1:29.3	So just try to keep everybody as protected as possible.
1:34.0	But first, preachers can now endorse political candidates without their churches losing tax-exempt status.
1:42.6	It's a break from decades of tradition, and it came about
1:45.8	because of a settlement this week between the Internal Revenue Service and the organization
1:49.9	National Religious Broadcasters. The group and two churches in Texas sued the IRS over a part
1:56.7	of the tax code dating back to 1954, called the Johnson Amendment, named after then-Sen
2:02.4	Lyndon Johnson. It specifically revokes the tax-exempt status of churches that, quote,
2:08.1	participate in or intervene in any political campaign. Until now, it seems. Ed Stetzer is an
2:15.6	evangelical author, radio host, and dean of the School of Theology at Biola
	...

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