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Alliance Defending Freedom
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===Church political activity and tax exemption=== [[File:Pulpit Freedom Sunday 2011.jpg|thumb|right|325px|Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2011]] In 2008, ADF launched the first [[Pulpit Freedom Sunday]] to promote political messaging and endorsements in Christian pastors' sermons in defiance of the prohibition on political endorsements by non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations under the 1954 [[Johnson Amendment]].<ref name="johnson-amend">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/02/03/513187940/the-johnson-amendment-in-five-questions-and-answers|title=The Johnson Amendment In 5 Questions And Answers|date=February 3, 2017|first=Tom|last=Gjelten|publisher=[[NPR]]|access-date=July 24, 2022|archive-date=July 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724204616/https://www.npr.org/2017/02/03/513187940/the-johnson-amendment-in-five-questions-and-answers|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="eckholm" /><ref name="vile-johnson" /> The practice of political endorsement is not broadly accepted within the evangelical community, with most Evangelical pastors opposed as of 2017.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nae.org/pastors-shouldnt-endorse-politicians/ | title=Pastors shouldn't endorse politicians | publisher=National Alliance of Evangelicals | access-date=March 19, 2022 | archive-date=February 27, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227013449/https://www.nae.org/pastors-shouldnt-endorse-politicians/ | url-status=live }}</ref> [[Pulpit Freedom Sunday]] is an initiative aimed to overturn the [[Johnson Amendment]], which restricts political campaigning by tax-exempt non-profit organizations, which includes most churches. According to ''The New York Times'', ADF's campaign is "perhaps its most aggressive effort."<ref name="eckholm" /> In the first year about 35 pastors participated, in what they consider an act of civil disobedience, endorsing political candidates in their sermons and defying the Internal Revenue Service regulations. In Minnesota, Reverend Gus Booth encouraged his congregation to vote for [[John McCain]] rather than [[Barack Obama]].<ref name="lampman">{{Cite news |last=Lampman |first=Jane |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2008/0926/p03s02-uspo.html |title=Pulpit politics: Pastors to defy IRS |date=September 26, 2008 |work=The Christian Science Monitor |access-date=February 4, 2018 |archive-date=February 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205000819/https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2008/0926/p03s02-uspo.html |url-status=live }}</ref> {{As of|2014}}, participation in the event had grown to about 1,800 pastors. The IRS indicated that it would increase enforcement of the Johnson Amendment.<ref name="kumar">{{Cite news |last=Kumar |first=Anugrah |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/over-1800-pastors-take-part-in-pulpit-freedom-sunday-127914/ |title=Over 1,800 Pastors Take Part in Pulpit Freedom Sunday |date=October 11, 2014 |work=The Christian Post |access-date=February 4, 2018 |archive-date=March 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20150303032404/http://www.christianpost.com/news/over-1800-pastors-take-part-in-pulpit-freedom-sunday-127914/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
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