Thou shalt not . . .
. . . impose taxes for politics on pulpit: Don
President Trump on Thursday signed an order that he said would allow religious groups to play politics without fear of losing their tax-exempt status.
The executive order, signed at the White House during the National Day of Prayer, instructs the IRS to use “maximum enforcement discretion” over a rarely enforced regulation that bars tax-exempt religious groups from endorsing political candidates or positions.
“This financial threat against the faith community is over,” Trump said. “No one should be censoring sermons or targeting pastors.”
The order also promises “regulatory relief ” for groups with religious objections to the preventive services requirement in the Affordable Care Act, a White House official said.
The order appears to fall short of what religious conservatives had expected from Trump, who won overwhelming support from evangelicals by promising to “protect Christianity” and religious freedom.
Ralph Reed, an evangelical leader and founder of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, said he was “thrilled” by the order’s language on the IRS restrictions.
“This administratively removes the threat of harassment,” Reed said. “That is a really big deal.”
But Gregory Baylor, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, said the order leaves Trump’s campaign promises to people of faith unfulfilled.
Baylor said directing the IRS not to enforce limits on political speech, while leaving the restrictions in place, still gives too much discretion to agents.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would sue to block the order.
Other critics mocked the order’s aim of promoting “religious liberty,” noting Trump’s efforts to impose a travel ban on several Muslim-majority nations.
“This is an actual quote from a @POTUS who signed a Muslim ban,” the liberal Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights tweeted, with quote of Trump’s remark, “Freedom is not a gift from government. Freedom is a gift from God.”