Tag: Punishment

As Rasmussen reports more than half of Americans attended church on Easter and an even higher percentage of American Jews participated in a Passover Seder according to JNS. Back in 1954, almost half of Americans were attending a place of worship on a given weekend. It was also the last year those places of worship were allowed to engage in political activity. The Johnson Amendment was passed to prevent churches and other 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations from engaging in political activity. The Johnson Amendment goes too far. The progressives who want to muzzle Christians out of the discussion and the self-proclaimed conservatives who want to let government contractors exchange millions of dollars in secret campaign contributions are both contributors to the problem, As efforts to reform the broken campaign finance system continue, the Johnson Amendment is back on the table as part of the growing movement to make elections and policy decisions transparent and fair. The vice president is not alone in his efforts to reform the campaign finance system, as many free speech advocates (on all sides of the political spectrum) are joining together to add their voice of concern over silencing pastors and other religious and non-profit leaders. An even easier way to prevent fallout from Johnson Amendment repeal is to encourage donations directly to candidates or to political parties over the super PACs or secret 527 groups that have a tendency to disappear the day after an election. Accountability is the key to Johnson Amendment repeal. Without the accountability, coordination, and disclosures, arguments can be made for the Free Speech killing Johnson Amendment — and that should be concerning to us all.