The Johnson Amendment and the First Amendment - A No-nonsense Protection
- January/February 2018
- January 1, 2018
1871, The Atlantic Ocean: A determined Fréderic Auguste Bartholdi stares out at the vast Atlantic Ocean. He strokes his beard as the high seas wind blows through his hair. Paris lies behind him, and the ocean steamer slices through the steel-gray waters bound for the eastern shores of America. The challenging maritime passage will take
READ MOREA priest approaches the weapon, blesses it, and then sprinkles holy water on it.He does so because the weapon will be used for “Christ’s war.” The scene is not from the Middle Ages, but given the mind-set of the priest, it might as well be.It’s 1965.The weapon blessed is a B-52 bomber about to go
READ MOREThere is strong empirical evidence in favor of a close connection between religious freedom and peace. That is amply demonstrated in an important book by Brian Grim and Roger Finke, The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-first Century,1 and supplemented by subsequent research by the Pew Research Center.2 Based on
READ MOREOne of the enduring myths of the American story is that the United States is a Christian nation. The dynamic that led to a war of independence and the sensibilities of self-determinism was dominantly secular. The discussions and negotiations that led to the adoption of a Constitution and its original amendments were of a distinctly
READ MOREOn issues of public morality many might identify with the opening words of Charles Dickens’ tome A Tale of Two Cities. They look around at what’s happening in society, in the government, and in their community during the past decade and say with a sigh, “It was the best of times, it was the worst
READ MOREThe new administration’s effort to “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment is a colossally bad idea: one that compromises the First Amendment. The Johnson Amendment, passed by Congress in 1954 and named for Lyndon Johnson, then a U.S. senator, is a provision in the tax code that prohibits tax-exempt organizations from openly supporting political candidates. In
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