In 2020, Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Virginia was required to pay a fine purportedly for violating the Internal Revenue Code restricting the political speech of churches and religious charities. The violated IRS regulation is known as the Johnson Amendment.

What IRS sin did the Rev. Hamrick commit? He preached a sermon the IRS deemed too political, simply because he attempted to measure two presidential candidates’ positions against scriptural principles.

Fear of the ire of the IRS may be why your conservative pastor or ministry leader steers clear of decrying the moral bankruptcy of certain inherent evils when they are debated in the political realm — such as same-sex marriage, transgenderism, abortion, or assisted suicide.

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