Six days before a local runoff election last year in Frisco, a prosperous and growing suburb of Dallas, Brandon Burden paced the stage of KingdomLife Church. The pastor told congregants that demonic spirits were operating through members of the City Council.
Grasping his Bible with both hands, Burden said God was working through his North Texas congregation to take the country back to its Christian roots. He lamented that he lacked jurisdiction over the state Capitol, where he had gone during the 2021 Texas legislative session to lobby for conservative priorities like expanded gun rights and a ban on abortion.
鈥淏ut you know what I got jurisdiction over this morning is an election coming up on Saturday,鈥 Burden told parishioners. 鈥淚 got a candidate that God wants to win. I got a mayor that God wants to unseat. God wants to undo. God wants to shift the balance of power in our city. And I have jurisdiction over that this morning.鈥
What Burden said that day in May 2021 was a violation of a long-standing federal law barring churches and nonprofits from directly or indirectly participating in political campaigns, tax law experts told ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. Although the provision was mostly uncontroversial for decades after it passed in 1954, it has become a target for both evangelical churches and former President Donald Trump, who vowed to eliminate it.
Burden鈥檚 sermon is among those at 18 churches identified by the news organizations over the past two years that appeared to violate the Johnson Amendment, a measure named after its author, former President Lyndon B. Johnson. Some pastors have gone so far as to paint candidates they oppose as demonic.
At one point, churches fretted over losing their tax-exempt status for even unintentional missteps. But the IRS has largely abdicated its enforcement responsibilities as churches have become more brazen. In fact, the number of apparent violations found by ProPublica and the Tribune, and confirmed by three nonprofit tax law experts, is greater than the total number of churches the federal agency has investigated for intervening in political campaigns over the past decade, according to records obtained by the news organizations.
In response to questions, an IRS spokesperson said that the agency 鈥渃annot comment on, neither confirm nor deny, investigations in progress, completed in the past nor contemplated.鈥 Asked about enforcement efforts over the past decade, the IRS pointed the news organizations to annual reports that do not contain such information.
Neither Burden nor KingdomLife responded to multiple interview requests or to emailed questions.
Trump鈥檚 opposition to the law banning political activity by nonprofits 鈥渉as given some politically-minded evangelical leaders a sense that the Johnson Amendment just isn鈥檛 really an issue anymore, and that they can go ahead and campaign for or against candidates or positions from the pulpit,鈥 said David Brockman, a scholar in religion and public policy at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.
Among the violations the newsrooms identified: In January, an Alaska pastor told his congregation that he was voting for a GOP candidate who is aiming to unseat , saying the challenger was the 鈥渙nly candidate for Senate that can flat-out preach.鈥 During a May 15 sermon, a pastor in Rocklin, California, asked voters to get behind 鈥渁 Christian conservative candidate鈥 challenging Gov. Gavin Newsom. And in July, a New Mexico pastor called Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham 鈥渂eyond evil鈥 and 鈥渄emonic鈥 for supporting abortion access. He urged congregants to 鈥渧ote her behind right out of office鈥 and challenged the media to call him out for violating the Johnson Amendment.
Andrew Whitehead, a sociologist at the University of Indiana-Purdue, who studies Christian nationalism, said the ramping up of political activity by churches could further polarize the country. 鈥淚t creates hurdles for a healthy, functioning, pluralistic democratic society,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to overcome.鈥
The Johnson Amendment does not prohibit churches from inviting political speakers or discussing positions that may seem partisan nor does it restrict voters from making faith-based decisions on who should represent them. But because donations to churches are tax-deductible and because churches don鈥檛 have to file financial disclosures with the IRS, without such a rule donors seeking to influence elections could go undetected, said Andrew Seidel, vice president of strategic communications for the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
鈥淚f you pair the ability to wade into partisan politics with a total absence of financial oversight and transparency, you鈥檙e essentially creating super PACs that are black holes,鈥 Seidel said.
Churches have long balanced the tightrope of political involvement, and blatant violations have previously been rare. In the 1960s, the IRS investigated complaints that some churches abused their tax-exempt status by distributing literature that was hostile to the election of John F. Kennedy, the country鈥檚 first Catholic president. And in 2004, the federal agency audited All Saints Episcopal Church in California after a pastor gave an anti-war speech that imagined Jesus talking to presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry. The pastor did not endorse a candidate but criticized the Iraq war.
Some conservative groups have argued that Black churches are more politically active than their white evangelical counterparts but are not as heavily scrutinized. During the 1984 presidential campaign, Democratic candidate Rev. Jesse L. Jackson was accused of turning Sunday sermons into campaign rallies and using Black churches to raise funds. In response to allegations of illegal campaigning, Jackson said at the time that strict guidelines were followed and denied violating the law.
While some Black churches have crossed the line into political endorsements, the long legacy of political activism in these churches stands in sharp contrast to white evangelical churches, where some pastors argue devout Christians must take control of government positions, said Robert Wuthnow, the former director of the Princeton University Center for the Study of Religion.
Wuthnow said long-standing voter outreach efforts inside Black churches, such as Souls to the Polls, which encourages voting on Sundays after church services, largely stay within the boundaries of the law.
鈥淭he Black church has been so keenly aware of its marginalized position,鈥 Wuthnow said. 鈥淭he Black church, historically, was the one place where Black people could mobilize, could organize, could feel that they had some power at the local level. The white evangelical church has power. It鈥檚 in office. It鈥檚 always had power.鈥
At the end of his two-hour sermon that May, Burden asserted that his church had a God-given power to choose lawmakers, and he asked others to join him onstage to 鈥渟ecure the gate over the city.鈥
Burden and a handful of church members crouched down and held on to a rod, at times speaking in tongues. The pastor said intruders such as the mayor, who was not up for reelection last year but who supported one of the candidates in the race for City Council, would be denied access to the gates of the city.
鈥淣ow this is bold, but I鈥檓 going to say it because I felt it from the Lord. I felt the Lord say, 鈥楻evoke the mayor鈥檚 keys to this gate,鈥欌 Burden said. 鈥淣o more do you have the key to the city. We revoke your key this morning, Mr. Mayor.
鈥淲e shut you out of the place of power,鈥 Burden added. 鈥淭he place of authority and influence.鈥
Johnson Amendment鈥檚 Cold War roots
Questions about the political involvement of tax-exempt organizations were swirling when Congress ordered an investigation in April 1952 to determine if some foundations were using their money 鈥渇or un-American and subversive activities.鈥
Leading the probe was Rep. Gene Cox, a Georgia Democrat who had accused the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, among others, of helping alleged Communists or Communist fronts. Cox died during the investigation, and the final report cleared the foundations of wrongdoing.
But a Republican member of the committee argued for additional scrutiny, and in July 1953, Congress established the House Committee to Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations. The committee focused heavily on liberal organizations, but it also investigated nonprofits such as the Facts Forum foundation, which was headed by Texas oilman H.L. Hunt, an ardent supporter of then-Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, a Republican who was best known for holding hearings to investigate suspected Communists.
In July 1954, Johnson, who was then a senator, proposed an amendment to the U.S. tax code that would strip nonprofits of their tax-exempt status for 鈥渋ntervening鈥 in political campaigns. The amendment sailed through Congress with bipartisan support and was signed into law by Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Johnson never explained his intent. Opponents of the amendment, , say Johnson was motivated by a such as the National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government, founded by newspaper magnate Frank Gannett, which painted the Democrat as soft on communism and supported his opponent in the primary election. that Johnson was hoping to head off a wider crackdown on nonprofit foundations.
Over the next 40 years, the IRS stripped a handful of religious nonprofits of their tax-exempt status. None were churches.
Then, just four days before the 1992 presidential election, Branch Ministries in New York ran two full-page ads in USA Today and The Washington Times urging voters to reject then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, a Democrat, in his challenge to Republican President George H.W. Bush.
The ads proclaimed: 鈥淐hristian Beware. Do not put the economy ahead of the Ten Commandments.鈥 They asserted that Clinton violated scripture by supporting 鈥渁bortion on demand,鈥 homosexuality and the distribution of condoms to teenagers in public schools. Clinton, the ads said, was 鈥渙penly promoting policies that are in rebellion to God鈥檚 laws.鈥
The IRS revoked the church鈥檚 tax-exempt status, leading to a long legal battle that ended with a .
The case remains the only publicly known example of the IRS revoking the tax-exempt status of a church because of its political activity in nearly 70 years. The Congressional Research Service said in 2012 that a
Citing an increase in allegations of church political activity leading up to the 2004 presidential election between incumbent Bush and Kerry, IRS officials created the Political Activities Compliance Initiative to .
Over the next four years, the committee investigated , including from the pulpit, according to IRS reports. But it did not revoke the tax-exempt status of any. Instead, the IRS mostly sent warning letters that agency officials said were effective in dissuading churches from continuing their political activity, asserting that there were no repeat offenders in that period.
In some cases, the IRS initiated audits of churches that could have led to financial penalties. It鈥檚 unclear how many did.
In January 2009, a into alleged financial improprieties at a Minnesota church whose pastor had supported the congressional campaign of former U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota.
The court found that the IRS had not been following its own rules for a decade because it was tasked with notifying churches of their legal rights before any pending audits and was required to have an appropriately high-level official sign off on them. But a 1998 agency reorganization had eliminated the position, leaving lower IRS employees to initiate church investigations.
Following the ruling, the IRS suspended its investigations into church political activity for five years, according to a .
During the hiatus, a conservative Christian initiative called Pulpit Freedom Sunday flourished. Pastors recorded themselves endorsing candidates or giving political sermons that they believed violated the Johnson Amendment and sent them to the IRS. The goal, according to participants, was to trigger by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The IRS never challenged participating churches, and the effort wound down without achieving its aim.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request from ProPublica and the Tribune last year, the IRS produced a severely redacted spreadsheet indicating the agency had launched inquiries into 16 churches since 2011. IRS officials shielded the results of the probes, and they have declined to answer specific questions.
Despite the agency鈥檚 limited enforcement, Trump promised shortly after he took office that he would 鈥渢otally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.鈥
As president, Trump tried unsuccessfully to remove the restrictions on church politicking through a 2017 . The move was largely symbolic because it simply ordered the government not to punish churches differently than it would any other nonprofit, according to a by the Justice Department.
Eliminating the Johnson Amendment would require congressional or judicial action.
Although the IRS has not discussed its plans, it has taken procedural steps that would enable it to ramp up audits again if it chooses to.
In 2019, more than two decades after eliminating the high-level position needed to sign off on action against churches, the IRS designated the commissioner of the agency鈥檚 tax-exempt and government entities division as the 鈥渁ppropriate high-level Treasury official鈥 with the power to initiate a church audit.
But Philip Hackney, a former IRS attorney and University of Pittsburgh tax law professor, said he doesn鈥檛 read too much into that. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 see any reason to believe that the operation of the IRS has changed significantly.鈥
The pulpit and politics
There is no uniform way to monitor church sermons across the country. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, many churches now post their services online, and ProPublica and the Tribune reviewed dozens of them. Many readers shared sermons with us. (You can do so .)
Texas鈥 large evangelical population and history of activism in Black churches makes the state a focal point for debates over political activity, said Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
鈥淐ombine all of that with the increasing competitiveness of Texas elections, and it鈥檚 no surprise that more and more Texas churches are taking on a political role,鈥 he said. 鈥淭exas is a perfect arena for widespread, religiously motivated political activism.鈥
The state also has a long history of politically minded pastors, Wuthnow said. Texas evangelical church leaders joined the fight in support of alcohol prohibition a century ago and spearheaded efforts to defeat Democrat Al Smith, the first Catholic to be nominated for president by a major party, in 1928. In the 1940s, evangelical fundamentalism began to grow in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Today, North Texas remains home to influential pastors such as Robert Jeffress, who leads the First Baptist megachurch in Dallas. Jeffress was one of Trump鈥檚 most fervent supporters, appearing at campaign events, defending him on television news shows and stating that after the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
Burden went a step further, urging followers to stock up on food and keep their guns loaded ahead of President Joe Biden鈥檚 inauguration. He told parishioners that 鈥減rophetic voices鈥 had told him in 2016 that Trump would have eight consecutive years in office.
The Frisco Conservative Coalition board Burden as chair for 30 days after criticism about his remarks.
Burden called his comments 鈥渋nartful鈥 but claimed he was unfairly targeted for his views. 鈥淭he establishment media is coming after me,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut it is not just about me. People of faith are under attack in this country.鈥
Since then, Burden has repeatedly preached that the church has been designated by the Lord to decide who should serve in public office and 鈥渢ake dominion鈥 over Frisco.
As the runoff for the Frisco City Council approached last year, Burden supported Jennifer White, a local veterinarian. White had positioned herself as the conservative candidate in the nonpartisan race against Angelia Pelham, a Black human resources executive who had the backing of the Frisco mayor.
White said she wasn鈥檛 in attendance during the May 2021 sermon in which Burden called her the 鈥渃andidate that God wants to win.鈥 She said she does not believe pastors should endorse candidates from the pulpit, but she welcomed churches becoming more politically active.
鈥淚 think that the churches over the years have been a big pretty big disappointment to the candidates in that they won't take a political stance,鈥 White said in an interview. 鈥淪o I would love it if churches would go ahead and come out and actually discuss things like morality. Not a specific party, but at least make sure people know where the candidates stand on those issues. And how to vote based on that.鈥
Pelham鈥檚 husband, local pastor Dono Pelham, also made a statement that violated the Johnson Amendment by 鈥渋ndirectly intervening鈥 in the campaign, said Ellen Aprill, an emerita tax law professor at Loyola Marymount Law School in Los Angeles
In May 2021, Pelham told his church that the race for a seat on the City Council had resulted in a runoff. He acknowledged that his church鈥檚 tax-exempt status prevented him from supporting candidates from the pulpit. Then, he added, 鈥渂ut you鈥檒l get the message.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 been declared for the two candidates who received the most votes, one of which is my wife,鈥 Pelham said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 just facts. That鈥檚 just facts. That鈥檚 just facts. And so a runoff is coming and every vote counts. Be sure to vote.鈥
Pelham then asked the congregation: 鈥淗ow did I do? I did all right, didn鈥檛 I? You know I wanted to go a little further, but I didn鈥檛 do it.鈥
Angelia Pelham, who co-founded Life-Changing Faith Christian Fellowship in 2008 with her husband, said the couple tried to avoid violating the Johnson Amendment. Both disagreed that her husband鈥檚 mention of her candidacy was a violation.
鈥淚 think church and state should remain separate,鈥 Angelia Pelham said in an interview, adding: 鈥淏ut I think there鈥檚 a lot of folks in the religious setting that just completely didn鈥檛 even consider the line. They erased it completely and lost sight of the Johnson Amendment.鈥
She declined to discuss Burden鈥檚 endorsement of her opponent.
In his sermon the morning after Pelham defeated his chosen candidate, Burden told parishioners that the church鈥檚 political involvement would continue.
鈥淪o you鈥檙e like, but you lost last night? No, we set the stage for the future,鈥 he said, adding 鈥淕od is uncovering the demonic structure that is in this region.鈥
鈥淒emonic鈥 candidate
Most Americans don鈥檛 want pastors making endorsements from the pulpit, according by the Program for Public Consultation, which is part of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.
Of the nearly 2,500 registered voters who were surveyed, 79% opposed getting rid of the Johnson Amendment. Only among Republican evangelical voters did a slight majority 鈥 52% 鈥 favor loosening restrictions on church political activity.
But such endorsements are taking place across the country, with some pastors calling for a debate about the Johnson Amendment.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, New Mexico became an island of abortion access for women in Texas and other neighboring states.
The issue raised the stakes in the upcoming Nov. 8 New Mexico governor鈥檚 race between incumbent Lujan Grisham, a supporter of abortion rights, and Republican challenger Mark Ronchetti, who advocates limiting access.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to fast become the No. 1 abortion place in all of America,鈥 a pastor, Steve Smothermon, said during a July 10 sermon at Legacy Church in Albuquerque, which has an average weekly attendance of more than 10,000 people. Smotherman said the governor was 鈥渨icked and evil鈥 and called her 鈥渁 narcissist.鈥
鈥淎nd people think, 鈥榃hy do you say that?鈥 Because I truly believe it. In fact, she鈥檚 beyond evil. It鈥檚 demonic,鈥 Smothermon said.
He later added: 鈥淔olks, when are we going to get appalled? When are we going to say, 鈥楨nough is enough鈥? When are we going to stop saying, 鈥榃ell, you know, it鈥檚 a woman鈥檚 right to choose鈥? That鈥檚 such a lie.鈥
Church attendees had a stark choice in the upcoming election, Smothermon said. 鈥淲e have the Wicked Witch of the North. Or you have Mark Ronchetti.鈥
The governor鈥檚 campaign declined to comment. Neither Legacy Church, Smothermon nor Ronchetti responded to requests for comment.
The sermon was a 鈥渃lear violation鈥 of the Johnson Amendment, said Sam Brunson, a Loyola University Chicago law professor. But Smothermon showed no fear of IRS enforcement.
Those who thought he crossed the line were 鈥渟o stupid,鈥 Smothermon said during the sermon. 鈥淵ou have no idea what you鈥檙e talking about.鈥
In another example, pastors at a Fort Worth church named Mercy Culture have repeatedly endorsed candidates for local and statewide offices since its founding in 2019.
鈥淣ow, obviously, churches don鈥檛 endorse candidates, but my name is Landon and I鈥檓 a person before I鈥檓 a pastor. And as an individual, I endorse Nate Schatzline,鈥 the lead pastor, Landon Schott, said in a February sermon about a church member who was running to fill an open state representative seat.
Johnson Amendment rules allow pastors to endorse in their individual capacity, as long as they are not at an official church function, which Schott was.
In other services, Schott challenged critics to complain to the IRS about the church鈥檚 support of political candidates and said he wasn鈥檛 worried about losing the church鈥檚 tax-exempt status.
鈥淚f you want it that bad, come and take it. And if you think that we will stop preaching the gospel, speaking truth over taxes, you got another thing coming for you,鈥 Schott said in May.
Schatzline, a member of Mercy Culture, received 65% of the vote in a May 24 runoff against the former mayor of the Dallas suburb of Southlake. He works for a separate nonprofit founded by Heather Schott, a pastor at Mercy Culture and the wife of Landon Schott.
Schatzline said in an interview with ProPublica and the Tribune that Landon Schott, not the church, endorsed him. He added that the church sought legal advice on how to ensure that it was complying with the Johnson Amendment.
鈥淚 think prayers can manifest into anything that God wants them to, but I would say that the community rallying behind me as individuals definitely manifested into votes,鈥 Schatzline said.
Mercy Culture also supported Tim O鈥橦are, a Republican running for Tarrant County judge, this year after he came out against the shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. His opponent in the primary had ordered churches and businesses to temporarily close when she was mayor of Fort Worth.
O鈥橦are came to prominence as the mayor of suburban Farmers Branch, where he championed a city ordinance to prohibit landlords from renting to immigrants without legal status. A federal in 2010 after a legal battle that cost the city $6.6 million.
O鈥橦are has pledged to hire an election integrity officer to oversee voting and 鈥渦ncover election fraud.鈥
鈥淭he Lord spoke to me and said, 鈥楤egin to pray for righteous judges in our city,鈥欌 Heather Schott said during a Feb. 13 service. 鈥淚 am believing that Mr. Tim O鈥橦are is an answered prayer of what we have been petitioning heaven for for the last year and a half.鈥
Neither Mercy Culture, Landon Schott nor Heather Schott responded to requests for comment. O鈥橦are also did not respond to a phone call and email seeking comment.
Schott鈥檚 comments were a prohibited endorsement, said Aprill, the emerita tax law professor at Loyola Marymount Law School in Los Angeles.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 say 鈥榲ote for him鈥 but is still an endorsement,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no other way to understand the statement that O鈥橦are has answered prayers for righteous judges.鈥
Two weeks later, O鈥橦are won his primary. He faces Deborah Peoples, a Democrat, on Nov. 8.
A new tactic
On April 18, 2021, a day before early voting began for city council and school board elections across Texas, pastors at churches just miles apart flashed the names of candidates on overhead screens. They told their congregations that local church leaders had gathered to discuss upcoming city and school elections and realized that their members were among those seeking office.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not endorsing a candidate. We鈥檙e not doing that. But we just thought because they鈥檙e a member of the family of God, that you might want to know if someone in the family and this family of churches is running,鈥 said Robert Morris, who leads the Gateway megachurch in Southlake and served as a .
On the same day, Doug Page gave a similar message less than 5 miles away at First Baptist Grapevine.
鈥淎nd so what we decided to do is look within our church families and say, 鈥榃ho do we know that鈥檚 running for office?鈥 Now, let me clarify with you. This is not an endorsement by us. We are not endorsing anyone. However, if you鈥檙e part of a family, you鈥檇 like to know if Uncle Bill is running for office, right? And so that鈥檚 all we鈥檙e going to do is simply inform you.鈥
Saying that you are not endorsing a candidate 鈥渋sn鈥檛 like a magic silver bullet that makes it so that you鈥檙e not endorsing them,鈥 Brunson said.
The churches鈥 coordination on messaging across the area is notable, according to University of Notre Dame tax law professor Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, who said he hadn鈥檛 before seen churches organizing to share lists of candidates.
鈥淚 do think this strategy is new,鈥 said Mayer, who has studied the Johnson Amendment for more than a decade. 鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 heard of that before. It鈥檚 quite a sophisticated tactic.鈥
Eight of the nine candidates mentioned by the pastors won their races.
Mindy McClure, who ran for reelection to the Grapevine-Colleyville school board, said she thought church involvement contributed to her defeat in a June 5, 2021, runoff by about 4 percentage points. Her opponent from district curriculum, while McClure said students 鈥渨eren鈥檛 being indoctrinated in any way, shape or form.鈥 Critical race theory is a college-level academic theory that racism is embedded in legal systems.
McClure said pastors endorsing from the pulpit creates 鈥渄ivisiveness鈥 in the community.
鈥淛ust because you attend a different church doesn鈥檛 mean that you鈥檙e more connected with God,鈥 she said.
Lawrence Swicegood, executive director of Gateway Media, said this month that the church doesn鈥檛 endorse candidates but 鈥渋nform(s) our church family of other church family members who are seeking office to serve our community.鈥 Page told ProPublica and the Tribune that 鈥渢hese candidates were named for information only.鈥
Eleven days after responding to ProPublica and the Tribune in October, Morris once again told his church that he was not endorsing any candidates during the last Sunday sermon before early voting. Then, he again displayed the names of specific candidates on a screen and told parishioners to take screenshots with their cellphones.
鈥淲e must vote,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 think we have figured that out in America, that the Christians sat on the sidelines for too long. And then all of a sudden they started teaching our children some pretty mixed up things in the schools. And we had no one to blame but ourselves. So let鈥檚 not let that happen. Especially at midterms.鈥
