On September 28, about 50 American pastors organized by the Alliance Defense Fund will deliberately preach a political message:

For more than a half-century, federal law has restricted the right of most churches and pastors to speak out about candidates for office.  But on Sunday, Sept. 28, about 50 pastors nationwide . . . will deliberately challenge that law by speaking out politically from their pulpits. . . . Pastors long spoke out on great moral issues such as slavery, women’s suffrage, child labor and prostitution. Pastors also have spoken from the pulpit with great frequency for and against various candidates for government office. All that changed in 1954 with the passage of the “Johnson amendment,” which restricted the right of churches and pastors to speak about candidates for office. The amendment . . . changed the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit churches and other non-profit organizations from supporting or opposing a candidate for office.

Did the amendment really restrict the right of free speech?  No: Read more »