TYLER, Texas (BP) — The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) association has joined a complaint alongside two churches — including a Southern Baptist congregation — calling for the Johnson Amendment to be declared unconstitutional.

The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Tyler on Aug. 28. Two east Texas churches — Sand Springs Church in Athens and the Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated First Baptist Waskom — joined in the complaint as did Intercessors for America, a national prayer ministry based in Purcellville, Va.

Congress approved then-Senator Lyndon Johnson’s amendment to the U.S. tax code in 1954 that prohibited 501(c)(3) organizations such as charities and churches “from engaging in any political campaign activity.” In 1987 Congress added a clarification that the amendment also applies to statements opposing candidates.

According to an NRB statement, the complaint details how organizations have “engage[d] in electoral activities that are open, obvious and well-known, yet the IRS allows some, but not all, such organizations to do so without penalty.” 

The Internal Revenue Service, it continued, routinely “acts in an arbitrary and capricious manner” toward nonprofit organizations “that disfavors conservative organizations and conservative, religious organizations.” Such an unequal enforcement, it determines, constitutes “a denial of both religious freedom and equal protection.”

And as such, the NRB notes, the amendment itself should be discarded.

“For too long, churches have been instructed to remain silent on pressing matters of conscience and conviction during election season or risk their 501(c)(3) status,” said NRB President and CEO Troy A. Miller. “We believe that all nonprofits should have the constitutional right to freely express their point of view on candidates, elections and issues on the ballot. Our challenge to the Johnson Amendment is about securing the future of free expression for all Americans, particularly those standing in the pulpit.”

NRB general counsel Michael Farris said the amendment’s history showed a “discriminatory” pattern of respecting only certain groups’ freedom of speech.

“Our intent is to vindicate the right of every church and religious nonprofit to express what their faith teaches on every issue, including political matters, as is their right and their duty,” he said.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)