Make America Ghastly Again
You cannot credibly worship Donald Trump and Jesus Christ; the two are mutually incompatible
Yes, the long war on Christianity. I pray that one day we may live in an America where Christians can worship freely! In broad daylight! Openly wearing the symbols of their religion... perhaps around their necks? And maybe -- dare I dream it? -- maybe one day there can be an openly Christian President. Or, perhaps, 43 of them. Consecutively.
Jon Stewart
I have no problem with churches engaging in partisan political activities if they decide to do so. After all, it’s a free country, is it not (at least for the moment)? However, tax-exempt churches under the Johnson Amendment cannot engage in partisan political activities- that’s the deal they make with the Devil government to be tax-exempt.
Suppose they determine that a partisan political mission is more important to them than their tax-exempt status under the US Tax Code. In that case, all they have to do is pay federal taxes like any other organization.
Problem solved, yeah? Except that far too many Right-wing Christian churches want to have their cake and eat it, too. They believe they have every right to endorse Right-wing candidates from the pulpit AND retain their tax-exempt status.
Except it doesn’t (or at least it’s not supposed to) work that way. Before I get into the importance of the Johnson Amendment, I should lay it out so we’re all singing from the same hymnal:
The Johnson Amendment is a provision in the U.S. tax code, since 1954, that prohibits all 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Section 501(c)(3) organizations are the most common type of nonprofit organization in the United States, ranging from charitable foundations to universities and churches. The amendment is named for then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, who introduced it in a preliminary draft of the law in July 1954.
In the early 21st century, some politicians, including former President Donald Trump, have sought to repeal the provision, arguing that it restricts the free speech rights of churches and other religious groups. These efforts have been criticized because churches have fewer reporting requirements than other non-profit organizations, and because it would effectively make political contributions tax-deductible. On May 4, 2017, Trump signed an executive order "to defend the freedom of religion and speech" for the purpose of easing the Johnson Amendment's restrictions.
According to the IRS website, churches and other tax-exempt non-profit organizations
are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.
They can’t collect donations on behalf of a candidate, nor can clergy endorse a candidate, including preaching sermons that include endorsing a candidate. There’s no grey area or room for interpretation there.
However, nonpartisan voter education drives and voter registration drives are permissible. Clergy are free to preach on matters of social and political concern, and churches can publish “issues guides” for voters.
What churches cannot do by the letter of the Johnson Amendment is what the Rod of Iron Ministries does routinely. A self-proclaimed “MAGA church,” Rod of Iron Ministries is very open about its support for Donald Trump. If you go to its home page, one of the first things you see is a video of motorcycle riders proudly carrying MAGA flags.
Precisely what a nonpartisan, tax-exempt church should not be doing, yeah?
Among other things, Rod of Iron Ministries’ website links to numerous Conservative voices, some of them politically partisan. If this is a Christian church, I’m the leading scorer for the Swedish Bikini Team.
And don’tcha just LOVE the way they claim patriotism for Conservatives, as if Liberals are capable only of hating and betraying America? Isn’t their presumptive Presidential candidate practically living in Vladimir Putin’s shorts?
‘Cuz we’re all latte-sipping, oat milk-guzzling, pronoun-juggling, gender-fluid, godless Liberals. And we hate AmeriKKKa with a burning passion only truly committed communists are capable of, don’tchaknow?
Whatever….
Rod of Iron Ministries also provides extensive firearms training classes, none related to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Something about spiritual warfare, perhaps??
Of course, you can also purchase some odd products, things you might not normally expect a church to sell. At first, I thought they might be vibrators, but….
Or the (not exactly) “turn the other cheek” T-shirt….
Of course, these are the things that good, God-fearing, White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexual Patriots need to show the world how much they love the Lord, right? And how much they’d welcome into their church those who don’t look, think, or love as they do?
Precisely. Youbetcha.
Not all of these things run afoul of the Johnson Amendment, but I find it difficult to understand how firearms training and end times prepping have anything to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Most of this is merely catering to the prejudice and paranoia of good, God-fearing White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexual patriots terrified of non-Whites, Gays, Liberals, Atheists, Packers fans, and those who don’t identify as male or female.
These folks are Christians in the same way I’m a Nobel Laureate. However, unless they’re collecting donations for a candidate or their clergy is endorsing Donald Trump from the pulpit (which is almost certainly happening), Rod of Iron Ministries isn’t running afoul of the Johnson Amendment.
Still, Rod of Iron Ministries, as Christian churches go, is pretty off the hook.
The pro-Trump militant church group that uses AR-15s during services has purchased a 130-acre property in Tennessee with the goal of turning it into a sacred retreat and training center. The congregation, Rod of Iron Ministries, is led by devout conspiracy theorist Pastor Hyung Jin “Sean” Moon. Moon is known to wear a metal crown studded with polished bullets and a gold-plated semi-automatic rifle. Moon said in a recent online sermon that the Tennessee property triggered a “spiritual download” in him. “Many, many, many buses full of people are going to come and pray there,” Moon said, “and liberate the ancestors there. He added that he planned to build a theological school, an elementary school and a MAGA politicians incubator on the property.
The Moon Gun Enthusiast Sect is an offshoot of the larger organization known as the Unification Church, founded by Reverend Sun Myung Moon, a self-proclaimed messiah and father of young Moon. Elder Moon held ancestral liberation workshops known as “ansu,” intensive week-long trials that former church members said were spiritually and physically abusive. A spokesperson for young Moon told VICE News the Tennessee property would not “repeat … excesses” like the ansu. VICE News reported that a property they identified as Rod of Iron Ministries’ latest acquisition was listed at $ 460,000 on Zillow.
Rod of Iron Ministries is one of many Right-wing (and a few Left-wing) churches that treat the Johnson Amendment as a suggestion and not as law. They can do this because they know there’s virtually no chance of losing their tax-exempt status. Republican Senators and congressmen would raise Hell over “religious persecution,” which is something that only seems to happen to Far-Right Christians and their churches.
Even though the Johnson Amendment is pretty unambiguous, it’s virtually impossible to enforce. Since 2008, the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Conservative advocacy group, has organized “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” which encourages pastors to give explicitly partisan sermons in defiance of the Johnson Amendment.
According to the Washington Post, of the more than 2000 clergy that have purposefully challenged the Johnson Amendment on Pulpit Freedom Sunday, only one has been audited, and none have been punished.
If the IRS won’t enforce the Johnson Amendment, why is it still part of the Tax Code?
Perhaps because overturning the law could have significant implications for campaign finance. If churches and/or religious organizations are allowed to participate in political campaigns, tax-free donations to churches freely could be funneled to support political candidates.
And if you think funding political campaigns is endemically corrupt now….
At least the Johnson Amendment is a conceptual brake on that sort of ecclesiastical corruption. Still, many Right-wing churches don’t recognize any limitations on their “rights” and do pretty much as they see fit. Enforcement is something of a political minefield. Churches know this, and so few of them on the Far-Right have any guardrails in place.
But MAGA cultists also exist and function outside of conventional churches.
In 2023, self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and unabashed Trump cultist Lance Wallnau announced his intention to travel the country ahead of the 2024 elections in order to break the “demonic strongholds” in swing states that are supposedly preventing Republicans from winning elections. That idea eventually merged with the revival Fire and Glory Tour that Wallnau was doing with fellow MAGA cultist Mario Murillo, resulting in plans to merge political rallies with Christian revival meetings in order to help former President Donald Trump return to the White House.
Wallnau’s dream is now coming to fruition with the announcement of “The Courage Tour” in which Wallnau and Murillo will be joined by the likes of Floyd Brown, Lou Engle, and others for a series of events “dedicated to impacting the spiritual climate in 7 key states and 19 key counties!” The first three announced events will take place in the swing states of Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin.
Wallnau and Murillo plan to appeal to the same types of people who descended on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. These are the True Believers, those who believe that the ONLY way Trump can lose is through widespread cheating and misconduct. They refuse to believe that Trump isn’t the legitimately God-ordained and duly elected President, nor will they accept it if Biden wins by a similarly wide margin in November.
A Trump loss doesn’t land within the realm of possibility for them, and so their every thought, word, and deed proceeds from that conviction. They refuse to entertain any other possibility.
The partisan purpose of the tour was made quite clear during a recent interview Wallnau did with fellow Christian nationalist Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA. Kirk, whose TPUSA Faith operation is also involved in the Courage Tour, told Wallnau that it is his mission to ensure that Trump receives more than 81 percent of the evangelical vote in 2024, asserting that if that can be achieved “there is almost no way Donald Trump loses.”
Kirk and Wallnau talk about working with churches to secure the 77% and 81% of the Evangelical vote that Donald Trump received in 2016 and 2020, but there’s no talk about the teachings of Jesus Christ. Why? Because it has nothing to do with Jesus, who’s useful as window dressing to make their Christofascist lust for temporal power seem more acceptable and less craven.
I may not be a Christian, but I remember enough of my Sunday School teachings to understand that MAGA Christianity is neither. It’s pure hypocrisy- all and only about seizing political power and exercising dominion over America and everyone within its borders.
If Jesus was real and He were to come back to see what MAGA Christians were doing in His name, He’d never stop puking in disgust.
(All of my posts are now public. Any reader financial support will be considered pledges- support that’s greatly appreciated but not required to get to all of my work. I’ll trust my readers to determine if my work is worthy of their financial support and at what level. To those who do offer their support, thank you. It means more than you know.)