Craig Huey, California refugee and marketing expert, said pastors across the nation are “in fear” of speaking out against political issues, even as Christians are under attack, as a result of the Johnson Amendment.
The Johnson Amendment, enacted in 1954, bans nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) tax exemptions, including churches, from participating in political campaigns if they want to keep their tax-exempt status.
Noting how the 1954 law has “changed” the role pastors played in American politics throughout the nation’s history, Huey explained how pastors used to be the “conscience” of communities and would “fight for what is right.”
“Here’s the situation. There has been a change nationwide with the pastors. The pastors used to be the conscience of the community, the pastors would speak up against what they would see as an injustice, a moral wrong. They would fight for justice. They would fight for what is right,” Huey explained on Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Huey used the examples of the American Revolution and during the 1830’s when pastors and churches were the “voice of social change.”
“We’ve seen movies where the pastor takes off his robe and he’s in uniform. Also, in the Second Great Awakening, all over the United States at that time in the 1830s, it was pastors who stood up against the evil of slavery and it was the pastors who gave the moral framework that allowed Abraham Lincoln to become president. It was the pastors that allowed the fact that the slaves to be freed,” Huey said.
“It was the church throughout history, at the local, state, and national level, that was the voice of social change,” Huey added.
Huey said churches’ roles in social change shifted as a result of the Johnson Amendment, which he said is why pastors now “fear” to voice their thoughts on political issues.
“Pastors have fear and that fear started when they were in school and were taught that if they were to speak up about politics, they would divide their fellowship and also have the IRS on their case,” Huey explained.
Huey said the fear among pastors to speak out comes as Christian rights are on the November 5 general election ballot, further pointing out how the diminished role of churches in politics comes as 32 million Evangelical born-again Christians are projected to “sit the election out” this year
“A lot of these pastors are in fear, so they don’t even mention the election. They don’t even mention the fact that on the ballot is the survival of Israel, on the ballot is the protection of the unborn. On the ballot is Christian rights. Right now, pastors and Christians are under attack. Pro-life leaders are locked up in jail,” Huey said.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
This fear is overwrought. Pastors can speak on any moral issue they wish, including those with obvious political implications. They can favor or disfavor various public policies, including legislation. They just can’t inject themselves into elections by taking partisan sides. Voters do not want tax deductions to be allowed for such purposes.
I’ll offer a reason for why they are afraid to speak out, but it’s more basic and, ironically, one that people like Craig Huey are too scared to mention: namely, the glut of pastors combining with the closing of churches.
It’s simple math, really. Protestantism in general has created an oversupply of pastors, while simultaneously having a construct that enables people to leave a church for any (and every) reason they see fit. If an individual feels “led by the Spirit” to reject Church X and attend Church Y, instead, they can do that with a clear conscience because doing so is baked into their theology.
But, in the current age, in which there are churches every few blocks or so, that means there is a lot of competition, so pastors have to do what they have to do to attract more people. Combine that with the enormous numbers of MDiv and Theology MA holders and of course they’re scared — but they are scared because the system they are part of has set them up to “compete” in a world that figured out it can do everything online.
No one rocks the boat when they have a sweet gig going like that of an Evangelical pastor.
Not all Christians are in fear. And the ones that are. I have this to say. If you are in fear now. What do you think will happen if a socialist is voted in.
“…it was the pastors who gave the moral framework that allowed Abraham Lincoln to become president.”
Allowing that Constitution-ignoring creature to become president doesn’t reflect very well on men of the cloth.