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HR 235 The Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act
Introduced by Congressman Walter B. Jones 8/11/2003 TALKING POINTS
History of the Current Law:
- Senator Lyndon Johnson inserted the ban on political speech in 1954 as a floor amendment in order to hamstring certain anticommunist organizations that were opposing him in the Democratic Party. No hearings took place nor was any congressional record developed in order to explain the reasons for the ban. There is no indication that Senator Johnson intended to target houses of worship.
Problems with Existing Law:
- It has a dramatic chilling effect on the ability of houses of worship to speak out on moral and political issues, since under Section 501(C)(3), houses of worship may not engage in even a single activity that might be regarded as participating in, or intervening in a campaign on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate for public office.
- It restricts freedom of speech by threatening to revoke the tax-exempt status of any house of worship whose ministers dare to speak out on moral and political questions.
- It burdens the free exercise of religion by telling houses of worship how they can and cannot practice their religion.
- It imposes a ban on "political" involvement that extends far beyond active campaigning to include any "voter education" activities that may be perceived as partisan. Any member of the clergy, for example, who takes a position for or against abortion during a campaign season may have his or her house of worship penalized by the IRS. The same goes for any current issue, ranging from tax cuts and welfare reform to free trade and missile defense.
- It prevents religious people from bearing witness to injustice and stirring the consciences of the people. Had the current law been enforced earlier in American history, William Lloyd Garrison could not have spoken out against slavery, nor could Martin Luther King, Jr. have spoken out against segregation.
Benefits of HR 235:
- It will liberate clergy from the muzzle imposed by the absolute ban on all speech that may be regarded as "political," and thereby enable them to speak out on all vital and moral and political questions of the day.
- It will free houses of worship from the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty created by the threat that the IRS will impose financial penalties or revoke tax-exempt status altogether.
- It will standardize the tax code by allowing houses of worship to engage in an "insubstantial" amount of political activity, much as they already may engage in an "insubstantial" amount of direct lobbying.
- It will enable houses of worship to avoid considerable legal costs by clarifying an area of legal confusion.
- It will shift the burden of proof from houses of worship to the IRS. Rather than require the house of worship to prove that its activities are not political at all, HR 235 will force the IRS to prove that its activities are in fact substantially political.
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