In a move hailed by defenders of religious liberty, the IRS formally acknowledged in a court filing this week that churches may endorse political candidates from the pulpit without risking their tax-exempt status.
The move is a sharp clarification on an issue that has long sparked legal and constitutional debate.
The admission came as part of a federal lawsuit involving two Texas churches and a Christian broadcaster group that sued the federal government.
They claim that restrictions on political endorsements violated their First Amendment rights.
The IRS’s position was revealed in a court filing reported Monday by The New York Times.
At issue is the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 tax code provision named after then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX).
The rule bars 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations from engaging in political campaign activity, including churches.
But the IRS now says that churches speaking about political candidates during religious services or through typical channels of communication do not violate the law.
“Thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted,” the IRS wrote.
The agency compared