For Immediate Release: October 19, 2021
Contact: Jordan Henry, Research Director
jordan@phyllisschlafly.com / 314.721.1213
Washington, D.C.: “If Vice President Harris keeps this up, she may have to find a new political party,” said Phyllis Schlafly Eagles President Ed Martin. “When Kamala sent an endorsement video to three hundred Virginia churches promoting Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, she violated a federal law long cherished by Democrats.”
Many legal scholars have found the church-targeted endorsement video to be a clear violation of the Johnson Amendment. The Johnson Amendment was introduced by Senator Lyndon B. Johnson for the purpose of preventing churches and other tax-exempt entities from engaging in overt political activity. While conservatives have long reviled the Johnson Amendment as an infringement on the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion, Democrats have traditionally supported this veritable gag order.
Martin continued, “When President Trump reached out to religious groups in 2016 and 2020, the cry of outrage from the Narrative Machine could be heard throughout the world. Democrats could not stand the idea of their sacred cow being violated. Yet, after Kamala Harris committed a textbook violation of the Johnson Amendment, all I can hear is crickets.”
“This is the greatest danger of government interference in religion. By selectively enforcing these unconstitutional edicts, the federal government puts religious groups at the mercy of partisan politics. If Democrats like Harris aren’t willing to enforce the law equally, they should do the right thing by ending the Johnson Amendment once and for all.”
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