The IRS has been threatening to strip churches of their tax status if they dare speak about politics from the pulpit.
Last week, a federal judge blocked Trump's latest attempt to lower that weapon.
But the deeper corruption inside the American church may be coming from where you least expect it.
The Johnson Amendment Has Silenced Church Free Speech for 70 Years
The Johnson Amendment has been strangling church free speech since 1954.
Lyndon Johnson – yes, that Lyndon Johnson – slipped it into the tax code to silence conservative nonprofits that were opposing him politically.
The provision gave the IRS the power to revoke the tax-exempt status of any church whose pastor endorsed a political candidate.
For 70 years, that threat has hung over every pulpit in America.
This week, Trump's IRS reached a settlement with the National Religious Broadcasters and two Texas churches that would have exempted traditional religious communications from the amendment's reach.
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker – a Trump appointee – dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds without ruling on the merits.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Breitbart News the administration isn't backing down.
"Religious liberty is foundational to our Constitution, and the freedom to practice one's faith openly and in community is central to the American story," Bessent said.
Treasury and the IRS announced they will develop new guidance for churches on how the Johnson Amendment applies – with standards that "uphold the First Amendment."
The National Religious Broadcasters plan to appeal to the Fifth Circuit.
The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins called Barker's ruling a missed opportunity to "correct a wrong that strikes at the very heart of American freedom."
How the Income Tax Gave Washington Control Over Every Church in America
Here is what the fight over the Johnson Amendment almost never mentions: there was no mechanism for the federal government to threaten a pastor's tax status until Washington started taxing income.
Before the 16th Amendment passed in 1913 – pushed through by Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive movement – the federal government ran almost entirely on tariffs collected at the border.
From George Washington's first Congress through the early 20th century, customs duties on imported goods provided the overwhelming majority of federal revenue.
There was no income tax.
There was no IRS.
The Progressives didn't just give Washington a new revenue stream in 1913.
They handed it a permanent lever of control over every American institution that wanted favorable tax treatment – including every church in the country.
The Johnson Amendment was not an accident.
It was the inevitable product of a government that taxes your income and then offers you relief if you behave.
Congregants Must Beware: Foreign Agents and Pharma Money Want to Weaponize the Pulpit
Churches, like anyone else should absolutely be free to say what they believe – including weighing in on political issues and candidates.
That said, many believers will rightly say it's a problem if a church or its leadership stands to directly or indirectly benefit – financially or otherwise – from advocating for certain positions or candidates and they don't disclose the nature of those relationships – certainly to the congregation but maybe to the public also.
In fact, the dirty truth is that this already happens.
A California firm called Show Faith by Works registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and launched a $3.2 to $4.1 million influence campaign targeting evangelical churches across California, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado.
The operation was not subtle.
FARA filings revealed the firm planned to draw digital boundaries around 25,000 churches – tracking the phones of congregants during worship services and following them with targeted ads after they left the parking lot.
Pastors were offered stipends to record pro-Israel video messages on behalf of a foreign government.
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A mobile exhibit trailer – built by Hollywood set designers – was scheduled to tour church parking lots every Sunday and Christian college campuses every weekday.
How many of the congregants inside those churches were told a foreign government was tracking their phones during the Sunday service.
How many of the congregants were told about financial relationships that weren’t reported in public filings.
The cushy paid internships for family.
The bulk purchases of a megachurch pastor’s books.
The free luxury tours for pastors with big enough followings paid for by foreign officials and perhaps not free but seemingly heavily subsidized for congregants.
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How about the operators who facilitate so much of it.
Should they be required to register as foreign agents?
The “former” IDF majors, turned-tour guides, who still have enough access to sensitive information to serve as “sources” for war correspondents, and who routinely get direct access to the pulpit in some American churches.
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It’s not isolated to foreign policy either.
The book Prophets for Sale documented how prominent religious figures accepted undisclosed arrangements with pharmaceutical companies and government entities during COVID – arrangements that almost certainly shaped the messages delivered from the pulpit to trusting congregations who had no idea their pastor's spiritual counsel had a financial sponsor.
There were reasons Christ drove the money changers from the Temple.
It was being misused to prey on the faithful. The money changers burdened the very people who came to seek God. And the Temple leaders of the day let it happen – insisting the profits served the Temple.
That is the same bargain being struck today in more than a few churches.
Look, it’s the job of every Christian to know and protect the Gospel.
And there’s plenty of room for disagreement on non-salvation issues within the Church.
But we probably overwhelmingly all agree it’s unacceptable that the government has an IRS “stick” it can use to try to circumvent our religious freedoms.
Trump's Tariffs Are the Path Back
At his State of the Union address in February, Trump said something that deserved far more attention than it received.
"As time goes by, I believe the tariffs paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love."
The establishment called the math impossible.
Here is what those critics are really saying: a government that consumes nearly a quarter of the entire American economy cannot be funded the way the Founders intended.
They are right – and that is precisely the point.
The Founders never intended Washington to consume a quarter of the American economy.
They built a government small enough to be funded by tariffs because they understood that a government that taxes your income owns a piece of you.
Remove income taxes and the entire game changes.
Churches, businesses, individuals – everyone is treated equally because Washington is no longer handing out special status to those who comply, push preferred narratives, or have insider ties.
No pastor loses his tax status for endorsing a candidate.
The real solution to the Johnson Amendment is not a consent decree or a new guidance memo from Treasury.
It is eliminating the Income Tax.
That is what gave Washington so much power in the first place and at the same time led to the hollowing out of both American society.
Trump's tariffs are the first serious attempt in over a century to restore the Founders' model – a government funded by commerce with foreign nations rather than by reaching into the pockets of its own citizens.
Could foreign governments, pharmaceutical companies, or any other special interests still try to prop up megachurch pastors or try to secure a congregation's loyalty with subsidized experiences, books, etc?
Sure, special interests will always try to leverage established communities and they’ll use any “carrots” they can.
But the body of Christ filled with prayerful believers who know and revere Scripture is the best means of keeping corrupting influences out of our congregations.
Eliminate the Income Tax and the powerful elite not only lose the tax status “stick” to threaten churches but it also means every individual gets a say in what to do with 100% of the fruits of their labor.
And you have to think believers at the hundreds of thousands of churches in the United States will dedicate more of that fruit to furthering the Lord’s Kingdom.
Sources:
- Katherine Hamilton, "Exclusive: Treasury to Create Church Guidance After Court Tosses IRS Pact Allowing Endorsement of Political Candidates," Breitbart News, April 3, 2026.
- Nick Cleveland-Stout, "Israel Wants to Pay US Pastors a Stipend to Spread the Word," Responsible Statecraft, October 2025.
- "Israel Mounts Lavish Campaign to Win Back Evangelicals," Washington Spectator, January 9, 2026.
- "A Brief History of the Constitution and Tariffs," Constitution Center.
- "Tariffs Once Funded America – But That America Had a Much Smaller Government," So Does It Matter, February 25, 2026.
- "2026 State of the Union: Trump Tariffs and Tax Cuts," Tax Foundation, February 25, 2026.
