Just this morning, at the National Prayer Breakfast, the new President vowed to “destroy” the Johnson Amendment. For those unfamiliar with the Johnson Amendment, it was put in place by then-senator, later president, Lyndon Johnson in 1954, prohibiting non-profit institutions (501(c)3 variety) from endorsing or opposing political candidates. At the time, it was seen as an extremely uncontroversial bill and was never questioned in public debate until the 80s. At that time the work of groups such as the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition began to move directly into the political sphere and so began to speak of the Johnson Amendment as something that constrained their ability to speak freely.
All throughout the campaign, candidate Trump said repeatedly that the power of Christians in the public sphere was being destroyed and his pledge to the leaders of evangelical churches and denominations was that he would restore that power. Today, his view is that the way to retire that authority is to allow churches, and other non-profits, to become actively engaged in the political process. This promise is a gift to a group that over the last five years has purposefully thumb its collective noses at the Johnson Amendment by starting a pulpit freedom movement where they would directly and open speak of political candidates who they supported or opposed, and many would dare the IRS to write citations of their churches in those sermons. People such as Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas, TX, Jerry Falwell Jr. of Liberty University, and Pat Robertson of the 700 Club see the removal of the Johnson Amendment as the means by the Church will be restored to its correct place as the moral arbiters of American society. For years they have been saying that the Christian faith is under attack by those who support and defend the separation of Church and state. They claimed God was removed from our government by “secularists” who hate God and want to destroy Christians.
I do agree with them that Christianity is under attack, however I believe it is their fear-based motivations which are destroying it.
Moves such as this to close the gap between political power and religious faith dilute the power and uniqueness of Gospel we are charged to share. This motivation is what allows someone like Franklin Graham to say that the President’s executive order halting the admittance of all refugees into our country, and barring entry for anyone from seven majority Muslim nations is, “not a Biblical issue.” However, both the Jewish and Christian Testaments have much more to say about the care of immigrants and refugees than they do about marriage equality which was a defining reason for supporting their preferred candidate.
In 2006, Brian McLaren and Tony Campelo authored the book, Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel.” Their main argument was that in the rush to create novel ways for the evangelical Church to reach the culture of the last part of the 20th century, they failed to confront and address the biggest sin, consumerism. By creating a Christian shadow culture, with all the trappings of everyday life just with crosses stamped onto it, the Church failed to create a Christ-centered counterculture reflective of the radical hospitality of the one we say is the image of the invisible God.
The work of those who would push for the abolition of the Johnson Amendment are just the next evolution of that Christian shadow culture. They speak of the Bible as authoritative when it suits them, but only as long as you adhere to their interpretation of the Scripture. Their main benefit to society is a faith that doesn’t require you to change anything about the way you interact with the world while getting “fire insurance” for an afterlife you rarely think of. Now, if the Johnson Amendment is removed as they so desperately hope it will be, they can add their favorite candidates to the sermons that hope to build comforting walls around the life they already live as they wait for the Apocalypse they yearn for.
If anything is a threat to the faith of Jesus Christ found in Holy Scripture it is a Gospel so bereft of Grace and Love that it cannot even address the ways we fail to see human beings as beloved creations of God. The true threat to Christianity is not some teacher in a school trying to educate students on safe ways to have sex, or a Planned Parenthood physician. It’s a faith that sits still while the Spirit of Hope is busy moving forward.
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