Quote: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©(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.
https://thehill.com/homenews/5389119-irs...andidates/
