Trump’s IRS payola for churches will backfire on evangelicals

For liberals living outside the world of the Christian right it may not seem like a major change On Monday the IRS revoked a long-standing rule that stripped tax-exempt status from churches that endorse political candidates From a horse-race view of elections this may not make a difference While conservative pastors may have technically avoided the words vote for Donald Trump or vote for Republicans in the past the expectation was transmitted to followers in strategies that weren t exactly subtle Calling for the reinstatement of prayer in community schools for a time of national repentance in America and even for Supreme Court vacancies to allow for the appointment of righteous judges Nor was it just that right-wing ministers were expressing Republican-shaped views about everything from LGBTQ rights to tax laws from the pulpit Outside church walls the massive ecosphere of Christian media hammered the message day in and day out Democrats are demonic and voting for them will send you to hell Predictably a large number of on the Christian right rejoiced over the decision Robert Jeffress a Texas megachurch pastor who claimed the IRS investigated him for supporting Donald Trump described ABC News The IRS has no business dictating what can be disclosed from the pulpit Craig DeRoche of the Christian Post argued falsely that the rule existed not to protect democracy but to silence opposition They may come to rue the day they took what amounts to payola to champion Trump ahead of Jesus Christ It s not a surprise that right-wing ministers are salivating at the chance to cater to powerful politicians while simultaneously keeping more money in their pockets But this decision is shortsighted particularly if they want to stymie the already essential losses in membership rolls that Christian churches have seen in the past couple of decades They may come to rue the day they took what amounts to payola to champion Trump ahead of Jesus Christ Frankly it s hard to imagine that Trump will benefit from this politically even if he as he clearly hopes gets the go-ahead from the Supreme Court for an illegal campaign for a third term He has already captured the white evangelical vote to the tune of percent in and although his approval numbers have slipped with majority of other demographics these supporters have remained steadfast Even if ministers had been allowed to endorse in the last presidential balloting cycle it s unlikely Trump would have done better among white evangelicals But Trump has an insatiable need for praise and he has long been fixated on repealing the Johnson Amendment which is the rule that prevented ministers from open endorsement For Republicans in state and local races this is a big deal Campaign finance spending will go much further if directed to churches where donors get a tax deduction instead of to political parties and action groups which cannot offer that benefit Related Evangelicals push Trump into conflict with Iran For churches it may prove to be a double-edged sword As multiple experts pointed out this new rule creates a powerful incentive for big money donors to take over churches and turn them into arms of a political campaign This opens a huge loophole for even more money in politics Jane Mayer of the New Yorker mentioned on X adding that it gives donors tax breaks for supporting political candidates There s nothing to stop wealthy donors from funneling millions into churches to endorsement their preferred political candidate Steven Emmert of the Secular Coalition of America explained in a declaration University of Pittsburgh law professor Philip Hackney agreed telling ABC News It has the possible to corrupt their mission more towards politics and away from their true beliefs If donors do funnel money to churches in this way they will likely want a return on their funding Ministers and churches will have less time and strength for the spiritual demands of the flock More support will go toward campaigning for candidates Even for parishioners who share right-wing political views that s going to be exhausting Why go to church when it s just a long political ad for the GOP Sure various will think that s just dandy They will leave services convinced they are called to engage in spiritual warfare To restore justice and righteousness to the country and to take more society stands against what they see as demonic activity in politics But as churches become less about Jesus and even more about Trump plenty of others will drift away Polls show this is a real danger As Bob Smietana and Jack Jenkins of Religion News Provision revealed Tuesday greater part believers of all religious stripes oppose ending the Johnson Amendment That includes white evangelicals as well as Black Protestants white mainline or nonevangelical Protestants white Catholics Hispanic Catholics Hispanic Protestants and Jewish Americans Pulpit endorsements will do as much to erode trust in clergy and undermine the sanctity of our religious practices as they will to the vitality of our democracy Rev Dr Shannon Fleck executive director of Faithful America stated in a report Sanctuaries are meant for worship not partisan agendas and politicking Church offering plates are meant for tithes and charity not political contributions Fleck is not alone Sparse non-evangelical or liberal churches have reacted to this news but those that have mostly disagreed with the decision The bulk seem to understand the dangers of losing their independence or angering their congregants Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics Sign up for her free newsletter Standing Room Only now also on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts Various people in conservative evangelical churches especially young people already harbor doubts about the right-wing beliefs promoted by their pastors The growing exvangelical movement is full of people who gradually drifted away from their churches because they objected to racism homophobia or other right-wing views While losses in membership have slowed in the past sparse years the cumulative trend for at least two decades shows a rather steep decline in Christian affiliation In percent of Americans called themselves Christian That number has fallen to largely because of people choosing to identify as having no formal religion or choosing to practice their beliefs on a more personal basis A quick way to restart the exodus from the pews is to make the church even more overtly partisan rather than spiritual Various people who have disagreements with their pastors may stick around because they value the public their church offers or because they cherish a shared faith in Jesus over political beliefs But if society and Christ take second place to politics those folks will stand to lose their reasons for staying The era of Trumpism is defined by greed and short-term thinking Republican politicians routinely sell out once-cherished political beliefs to cater to Trump s whims Business leaders sacrificed long-term economic stability by pandering to the president Law firms abandoned their commitment to the Constitution to get in his good graces Media companies axed basic journalistic ethics and their reputations to buy off Trump Churches that greedily grab at this opportunity to make money from political donors will be just the latest example of this era I m not a Christian but I can t help pointing out that the Bible warns against this in Galatians For whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Reaping season has already begun for selected as we see with Trump-complicit law firms losing clients or Trump-bribing billionaires finding he will renege on the deal you thought you had with him For churches the process will be more gradual They cannot serve two masters Trump and Jesus Christ They ve already lost supporters by leaning too far into political advocacy Now that they ve forsaken the last obstacle to selling out entirely they will likely lose numerous more Read more about this topic Girls Gone Bible Spicy Christian podcast sells young women on MAGA Will outrage hurt or help His mission is to eradicate woke Jesus' How money lies and religion are abused to gut democracy How the left can get its mojo back Listen to working-class people of faith The post Trump s IRS payola for churches will backfire on evangelicals appeared first on Salon com