After a live performance of a controversial Loretta Lynn song, Rev. Lori Walke of Mayflower Congregational Church took the pulpit to make a point.
The song, “The Pill” by Loretta Lynn, is about the freedom birth control can provide for women. It led into Walke’s sermon on the importance of women’s bodily autonomy. In her sermon, Walke did not stray from recent court decisions and policy.
Walke said a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body is either under attack or being rolled back. She voiced her disdain for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which ruled the Constitution doesn’t protect a woman’s right to get an abortion, and cuts to Medicaid funding due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a law backed by the Trump administration.
At Mayflower, political talk on a range of topics is encouraged and accepted. Walke consistently builds sermons around politics, but she said the conversation is about policy and social justice, not endorsing certain candidates.
The Johnson Amendment prohibits tax-exempt religious and charitable organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates.
In August 2024, two Texas churches, Intercessors for America and National Religious Broadcasters, filed a lawsuit against the IRS, claiming the 1954 law violates their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion. The parties agreed to a consent judgment, which would declare the law unconstitutional and bar the IRS from using it against the parties if a judge approved it.
No judge did.
The lawsuit revealed that the IRS rarely enforces the amendment against churches that have internal communications about politics. The IRS claimed that speaking to the congregation through traditional channels about politics is not the same as participating in or intervening in a political campaign. Under the consent judgment, sermons or faith-based conversations between religious leaders and the congregation would be treated as internal, private matters, comparable to a family discussion about candidates.
District Judge J. Campbell Barker of the Eastern District of Texas rejected the proposed consent judgment in March. He ruled that, under the Anti-Injunction Act, the court cannot block or rule on federal tax collection before the IRS assesses or collects the tax. If the IRS revokes an organization’s tax-exempt status, the organization can pay the tax and sue for a refund, or sue after the IRS officially denies tax-exempt status.
Barker’s rejection kept the Johnson Amendment in place, but his ruling produced no new interpretations of it. Walke and Mitch Randall, former pastor and chief executive officer of Good Faith Media, both said they’ve seen churches endorse candidates without IRS consequences for years.
“Those churches have been doing that (endorsing candidates) for a long time,” Walke said. “This has not changed anything. There has not been enforcement of the Johnson Amendment with churches maybe since it was passed. They have continued in their practice of endorsement of candidates and parties as before.”
Proposed legislation continues to reach Congress on limiting the reach of the Johnson Amendment. Two bills, both called the Free Speech Fairness Act, were introduced in the Senate and House. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma sponsors the Senate bill.
If passed, the law would allow charitable organizations, including churches, to make statements about political campaigns if they make them in the ordinary course of carrying out their tax-exempt purpose. The bill was introduced in previous sessions but failed.
Randall said the Constitution has always allowed preachers to speak freely from the pulpit, including endorsing candidates. Although that could result in losing tax-exempt status, Randall said it would not violate the preacher’s First Amendment rights.
“Their free speech is not being violated,” Randall said. “What they’re actually wanting to do is to have no consequences for the endorsement of those candidates, and so when they say that their free speech is being impeded, that is not entirely true. What they’re really wanting to do is have their cake and eat it too, and so that’s the issue at stake.”
Some Oklahoma churches have found a loophole: partnerships with other organizations let them reveal political alignments.
Oklahoma Faith Leaders, a coalition of six denominations, focuses on connecting faith communities with elected officials. Although the nonprofit doesn’t endorse a specific party or candidate on its website, Oklahoma Faith Leaders and its president, Paul Abner, endorsed Mike Mazzei for governor in an Aug. 20 post on Mazzei’s campaign Facebook page. Oklahoma Faith Leaders also reposted a video on Facebook criticizing Mazzei’s opponent, Cyndi Munson.
There are no records of Oklahoma Faith Leaders being registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, but Abner is the executive director and only employee of Student Development Institute, which is a business name used by Christian Helplines Inc., a public charity.
Upon pressing donate on the Oklahoma Faith Leaders website, the PayPal donation screen states the donation is for “Oklahoma Faith Leaders / Student Development Institute.” Oklahoma Watch could not reach Abner for comment after attempting to make contact via phone, email and Facebook Messenger.
The Catholic Conference of Oklahoma is one of the six denominations affiliated with Oklahoma Faith Leaders. Brett Farley, the denomination’s executive director, said in an email to Oklahoma Watch that the Catholic Church’s internal guidance on political neutrality hasn’t shifted.
“Membership in a coalition like OFL doesn’t mean every member organization endorses every position the coalition takes,” Farley wrote. “Our pastors are directed to avoid electoral endorsements in their pastoral role, regardless of what other coalition members may do.”
Churches outside of Oklahoma Faith Leaders have also aligned themselves with organizations that endorse candidates. Mayflower welcomed a national organization called Vote Common Good into the church for an event focused on increasing dialogue among church members who disagree on politics. Walke said the training was about finding common ground rather than partisan politics.
Vote Common Good is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, which means they are able to endorse candidates. The organization’s website states it’s nonpartisan, but it endorses mainly Democratic candidates, none of whom are Oklahomans. It also listed preventing the reelection of U.S. President Donald Trump in its mission summary on the IRS-required 990 form.
“While Jesus was certainly political in nature, he was not partisan in nature, and I think there is a distinct difference between the two.”
Mitch Randall, CEO, Good Faith Media
Walke said Vote Common Good’s value is not negated by its endorsements. Yet research shows that pastors who speak on politics in any way affect church members’ political views.
A 2026 American Political Science Association study states that a religious endorsement, such as a view on a certain policy, acts as a group cue. If a pastor shares a view on an issue, members of the religious group often update their preferences to match the group’s and, at times, move away from the other group’s position.
Walke said Mayflower will never hear endorsement of a specific party or candidate from the pulpit, but policies can align with Scripture and the views of Jesus Christ.
“We think that Scripture is pretty clear that Jesus would not shut up about the gap between the rich and the poor,” Walke said. “So, economic justice is a significant issue for us. We also think that Jesus was an advocate for women, and so there are lots of policies and concerns of the common good that we think that the church can speak to separately that are political, but they are not partisan.”
Randall is retired from the pulpit, but he preached for more than 20 years across Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. His nonprofit media company, Good Faith Media, often publishes pieces on religion and politics.
Randall said his focus is on encouraging political engagement among religious people rather than endorsing candidates and causing a divide among church members.
“I think any minister who considers endorsing a candidate from the pulpit should seriously consider the ramifications for the church,” Randall said. “I think any church member that hears their pastor endorse a candidate from the pulpit should seriously consider the consequences of that particular endorsement, what it will do to their congregation, because it could certainly be divisive in nature. While Jesus was certainly political in nature, he was not partisan in nature, and I think there is a distinct difference between the two.”
While pastors such as Randall see an important connection between religion and politics, others avoid the topic altogether.
Wade Burleson was a pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid for 30 years before running for Congress. He said that although he is a political conservative, if you attended his church, you would have heard nothing but the good news of Jesus Christ. Burleson ran as a republican for the U.S. House of Representatives for District 3 in 2022 and 2026; he lost in the primary to Republican Frank Lucas both times.
As the founder of Istoria Ministries in Enid, Burleson still hosts Bible study twice a week. His ministry is a nonprofit, and he avoids speaking about politics at services or posting on the nonprofit’s social media accounts. On his personal Facebook, he does post about politics, but the tax code allows people involved in religious nonprofits to endorse politicians as long as they do so on their own, not on behalf of the 501(c)(3).
In Burleson’s time as a religious leader, he said he has seen more pushback against right-wing religious leaders than left-wing religious leaders across the U.S. Although he disagrees with mixing politics and religion, he said the law needs to investigate claims on both sides consistently.
“I think both of them should keep their mouths shut and talk about Jesus Christ,” Burleson said. “But if you’re going to have a government that allows one side to talk about politics, the liberals, and on the other side, prosecute the caucasian evangelicals who talk about politics, I think that’s wrong. Both of them should keep their mouths shut, but if they can’t, then you’ve got to let both of them speak.”
The IRS’ limited enforcement of the Johnson Amendment has left room for differences in how churches approach the law across Oklahoma. For some religious leaders, maintaining a no-endorsement policy matters more than keeping their tax-exempt status.
“It’s not just that we’re trying to follow the law,” Walke said. “We think that it is a theological imperative that we not endorse partisan parties or candidates.”
Raynee Howell is a general assignment reporter for Oklahoma Watch. Reach her at rhowell@oklahomawatch.org
The post Pulpit Politics: Johnson Amendment Rarely Enforced appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.
