The Freedom From Religion Foundation is challenging a Texas megachurch pastor’s claims that attempting to have federal electioneering restrictions enforced amounts to intimidation tactics.
Josh Howerton, senior pastor of Lakepointe Church in Rockwall, Texas, laughably accuses FFRF of engaging in “street-level lawfare” and aiming to silence conservative pastors because the state/church watchdog reports violations of the Johnson Amendment to the IRS. The Johnson Amendment is a federal law that prohibits tax-exempt organizations from intervening in political campaigns.
Howerton’s accusations come two years after FFRF filed an IRS complaint over his October 2024 sermon, “How to Vote Like Jesus,” in which he appeared to encourage congregants to support Donald Trump over Kamala Harris.
Contrary to Howerton’s claims, FFRF is a nonpartisan organization that has repeatedly reported churches for endorsing Democratic candidates. For example, FFRF reported New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia for such politicking during the very same election cycle.
The Johnson Amendment is an essential safeguard to ensure that tax-exempt churches and other charitable organizations don’t use tax-deductible donations for political purposes. Churches have substantial taxpayer-supported benefits enjoyed by all 501(c)(3) organizations, but are singled out for additional privileges, such as not having to publicly report what they do with tax-deductible donations, turning them into financial black holes. This makes it all the more necessary that houses of worship follow the same restrictions on partisan campaign intervention that apply to every other (c)(3) organization.
FFRF notes that pastors remain free to preach about moral issues, criticize public policies and encourage voting, but they must express political opinions in their personal capacities. Churches may not use their tax-exempt resources to endorse or oppose candidates for public office.
Last month, FFRF filed a friend-of-the-court brief before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a lawsuit brought by National Religious Broadcasters and allied churches seeking to undermine the prohibition on nonprofit electioneering. The brief highlights the IRS’ longstanding failure to meaningfully enforce the Johnson Amendment against churches, undermining claims that religious organizations face a credible threat of enforcement.
That history of nonenforcement makes Howerton’s accusations particularly absurd.
“FFRF is not attempting to intimidate pastors into silence,” note FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “It is asking the federal government to enforce a 70-year-old law that prevents tax-exempt groups from becoming political operatives and that applies equally to religious and secular nonprofits.”
Asking the IRS to investigate organizations that appear to willfully violate federal law is not bullying, harassment or intimidation, they add. “It is demanding equal enforcement of the law.”
FFRF will continue defending the Johnson Amendment and insisting that churches — regardless of their political affiliations — abide by the same rules as every other tax-exempt nonprofit.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 40,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
