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Trump welcomes IRS decision to let churches endorse political candidates
Reuters.com ^ | July 9, 2025 1:31 PM CDT | Reuters

Posted on 07/09/2025 1:54:50 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday welcomed the Internal Revenue Service's decision that houses of worship could endorse political candidates to their congregations without risking losing their status as tax-exempt nonprofits.

"I love the fact that churches could endorse a political candidate," Trump told reporters at the White House. "If somebody of faith wants to endorse, I think it's something that I'd like to hear."

In a court filing on Monday to resolve a lawsuit by two Texas churches and the National Religious Broadcasters, the IRS said traditional religious communications are exempt from a decades-old provision in the U.S. tax code that bars nonprofits - religious and secular - from endorsing political candidates.

The Justice Department under Democratic President Joe Biden had defended the law's constitutionality in court, saying Congress was entitled to refuse to subsidize political activity through tax benefits.

Trump has criticized the law. During his first term in office in 2017, Trump signed an executive order aimed at easing the ban on political activity by churches.

"Those people were not allowed to speak up. Now they're allowed to speak up," Trump said. "I think it's terrific."

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: church; churches; irs; paytaxeschurches

1 posted on 07/09/2025 1:54:50 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Now white churches get to do what all the other churches have been doing all along.


2 posted on 07/09/2025 1:56:57 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

This is a big win for the true Church. Leftist churches were always able to push their agenda. Can’t wait to hear how this is going to be unfair.


3 posted on 07/09/2025 1:59:07 PM PDT by stevio (Fight until you die!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Satanic groups already lining up to promote Dems and the new New York mayoral candidate.
Satan: “My, boy.”


4 posted on 07/09/2025 1:59:38 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Good news. This only affects White churches.

The Negro churches have been endorsing candidates for decades. Nary a peep from Uncle Sam. It only counted when Whites did the same.

5 posted on 07/09/2025 2:00:22 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and his mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

They were not enforcing it in any case for decades, possibly forever. Unless it was a church supporting a conservative candidate, I suspect.

This is the first I have heard about this.

I fully expect the Left to use Churches fully as NGOs to promote Leftist Candidates out in the open and funnel vast sums of money into as they had been doing with the Leftist PACs.


6 posted on 07/09/2025 2:02:24 PM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est.)
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To: ansel12

Amen...


7 posted on 07/09/2025 2:06:30 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is rabble-rising Sam Adams now that we need him? Is his name Trump, now?)
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To: rlmorel

Images of Democrats campaigning in black churches.

https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&sca_esv=160e23f215d5943b&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1115US1115&q=democrats+campaigning+in+churches&udm=2&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZrjP_Cx0LI1Ytb_FGcOviEiTm5uW1q0uNfK7KsnoL8hUyUYUJLZ_b-p0lT09DIkR7RtNt-9R1f9Pbq4mdMMyxSelEHHADgzBCNx7-1ORi0KL6PmuZlhCdFkfC14rwu1hVYz7VaOyiNZ1fR3MRh37FnT1xKvvetQpGv6CeYusk3UW5R7062AE1WaM4vJA2CkZ6VOjUqg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwim1sqW1bCOAxV1rVYBHYXwDkYQtKgLKAJ6BAgSEAE&biw=1158&bih=541&dpr=2.21&num=100


8 posted on 07/09/2025 2:10:02 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12

Yep, the rat churches have been doing it for decades while we played by the rules.


9 posted on 07/09/2025 2:10:46 PM PDT by gibsonguy ( )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum; lightman

Churches—white, black, or other—Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or Protestant—as well as synagogues and mosques—MUST not endorse political candidates!!

It’s a matter of integrity—serving God and not mammon!


10 posted on 07/09/2025 2:16:49 PM PDT by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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To: Honorary Serb

Can they say grace at lunch in school?


11 posted on 07/09/2025 2:17:23 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
This could be a double edged sword. Endorsing the "wrong" candidate (according to the left) could result in vandalism and even attacks.

I'm not saying the churches shouldn't endorse conservative candidates. This is just something we need to be aware of and prepare for.

12 posted on 07/09/2025 2:18:06 PM PDT by TwelveOfTwenty (Prayers for the US and President Trump)
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To: rlmorel

Quite a few black churches already do that.


13 posted on 07/09/2025 2:18:55 PM PDT by madison10
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The old IRS standard was a joke. The Governor of North Carolina, Josh Stein, made black churches a critical part of his campaign schedule.


14 posted on 07/09/2025 2:25:56 PM PDT by LuxAerterna
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Of course they can!


15 posted on 07/09/2025 2:36:31 PM PDT by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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To: ansel12; madison10

I know. It is an amazing double standard, isn’t it?

I know it must have happened with some conservatives, but comparatively speaking it was a rarity, as there would have been an “unequal application of the law”.

I am sure that now, for them, it will be as it was, except on steroids!


16 posted on 07/09/2025 3:36:23 PM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est.)
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To: ansel12

By the way, thanks. I will save that search!


17 posted on 07/09/2025 3:38:15 PM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est.)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

All true churches are White churches.


18 posted on 07/09/2025 4:11:20 PM PDT by nwrep
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