Religious Institutions Can Support Political Candidates Without Losing Tax Exemption Status

An executive order was signed earlier this month that allows tax-exempt churches to actively participate in politics without risking the loss of their tax exemption.

Trump's order directs the Internal Revenue Service to "alleviate the burden of the Johnson Amendment"... Under that amendment, the tax code prohibits organizations that enjoy tax-free status from participating in a political campaign or supporting any one candidate for elective office.

While known as the Johnson Amendment for eventual President Lyndon Johnson, he was only the sponsor of it in a bipartisan effort.  

The amendment was adopted by a Republican Congress and signed into law by [Republican] President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  It reflected a bipartisan consensus that churches should stay out of politics.

In addition, the executive order attempts to free religious organizations to deny employees insurance coverage for birth-control pills.

The order also asks the government to issue rules that would allow religious groups ... to deny their employees insurance coverage for services that they oppose on religious grounds, such as birth-control pills. Those employees would be forced to go outside their employer-provided insurance plan for subsidized contraceptives....

The lack of uproar over this executive order is troubling. Apparently the post-inauguration predictions that Trump would become "normalized" are coming to pass.

The warnings that even the president’s harshest critics, worn down by the endless barrage of unpredictable antics emanating from the White House, would inevitably adapt, greeting with relief actions that fall short of the breathtakingly outrageous.

That last thought is terrifying.  Be Smart. Stay Informed. Actively Dissent.

Sources: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/us/politics/trump-religion-executive-order-gay-rights.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-religion-idUSKBN18025T