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July 25, 2025
Title: IRS: Pastors and Politicians Don’t Lose First Amendment Rights in Pulpit
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Paul Batura
with Focus on the Family www.Family.org
Disclaimer: Please do not construe any statement made during this
interview as legal advice. Always consult your attorney for advice on this and
other legal issues.
The IRS recently ruled that pastors can take a political stand while in the
pulpit.
Today, Paul Batura discusses the Johnson Amendment, the recent ruling by the
IRS, and what it means for pastors going forward. Paul Batura is the Vice
President of Communications at Focus on the Family.
Click
here to read Paul Batura’s op-ed on this issue in the
Daily Citizen, an online
publication of Focus on the Family.
Questions/Issues Discussed:
What is the Johnson Amendment? Has the IRS uniformly enforced the Johnson
Amendment throughout the last 70 years or so? Paul Batura explains how
predominately white conservative churches have unfairly been targeted while
minority churches are given a “free pass”.
What can pastors expect with the changes?
What is the
Free Speech Fairness Act?
BOTTOM LINE: Should pastors “preach politics” from the pulpit? Paul Batura
believes that pastors absolutely have a responsibility and an opportunity to
help their congregation become aware of the issues from a Biblical viewpoint.
NOTE: This does not include endorsing a specific candidate.
Click
here to help support
Focus on the Family.
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July 17, 2025
Title: BREAKING NEWS: Pastors Can Now Endorse Political Candidates from the Pulpit
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Michael O'Neill
with Landmark Legal Foundation (www.landmarklegal.org/)
Disclaimer: Please do not construe any statement made during this interview as legal advice. Always consult your attorney for advice on this and other legal issues.
The Johnson Amendment of 1954 made religious leaders and entities liable to lose their 501(c) (3) tax-exempt status if they endorsed specific candidates or engaged in political activity.
Today, Michael O’Neill explains the Johnson Amendment and what the IRS changes mean for pastors in America going forward. Michael is the Vice President of Legal Affairs with the
Landmark Legal Foundation.
Click here for more information about and to contact the
Landmark Legal Foundation.
Questions/Issues Discussed:
What is the Johnson Amendment of 1954?
Were pastors and their governing bodies fearful of losing their tax-exempt status?
Has the Johnson Amendment been uniformly enforced across all churches in America?
Why did the IRS recently change course? Michael O’Neill explains how pastor’s opinions have always been protected under the First Amendment but the
Johnson Amendment has made it difficult for them to express their thoughts from the pulpit.
Should Pastors make political endorsements from their pulpits?
Can future administrations reinstate the Johnson Amendment?
Click here to help support the Landmark Legal Foundation.
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January 21, 2016
Title: Fact and Fiction: Separation of Church and State
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Bill Federer
with American Minute (www.AmericanMinute.com)
Part 1 of 2
The Constitution was not designed to punish religious people, but we
seem to hear stories every day of how a person was discriminated against because
of their religion – mainly Christians. Our favorite historian,
Bill Federer, is with us today and starts off this first segment by quoting
Supreme Court Justice William Douglas:
“The First Amendment, however, does not say that in every and all respects
there shall be a separation of Church and State...Otherwise the state and
religion would be aliens to each other - hostile, suspicious, and even
unfriendly...Municipalities would not be permitted to render police or fire
protection to religious groups. Policemen who helped parishioners into their
places of worship would violate the Constitution. Prayers in our legislative
halls; the appeals to the Almighty in the messages of the Chief Executive; the
proclamations making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; 'so help me God' in our
courtroom oaths – these and all other references to the Almighty that run
through our laws, our public rituals, our ceremonies would be flouting the First
Amendment.”
Justice Douglas went on the say:
"We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being...
When the state encourages religious instruction...it follows the best of our
traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and
accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs…We find no
constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile
to religion and to throw its weight against efforts to widen the effective scope
of religious influence...We cannot read into the Bill of Rights such a
philosophy of hostility to religion.”
So what’s the deal with all the persecution against Christians lately? Why do so
many people, after all these years, still so grossly misinterpret the meaning
behind the First Amendment? Justice Douglas referenced all the way back to the
Founding Fathers, including a case by Warren Berger. Listen as Bill Federer
explains what Chief Justice Warren Burger did and why it is proof that the First
Amendment has been grossly misconstrued over the past decades and twisted into
something the Founding Fathers never intended.
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Title: Part 2 of 2 - Fact and Fiction: Separation of Church and State
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Bill Federer
with American Minute (www.AmericanMinute.com)
In the beginning, every New American Colony practiced a different
Christian denomination: Virginia was Anglican, Massachusetts was Puritan, Rhode
Island was Baptist, New York was Dutch Reformed, and Delaware and New Jersey
were Swedish Lutheran. Each group would become very angry if
someone from a different denomination tried to move into their colony. Then the
Revolutionary War started and they have to work together against the King of
England.
Listen in as Bill Federer shares some interesting facts about those early
colonies and how each gradually became more and more tolerant of other
denominations and religions. Bill also points out that after the Civil War and
the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, things at the Supreme Court became
hairy. There were some Justices who stuck to the exact meaning of the
Constitution and others who saw nothing wrong with changing it into something it
was never meant to be. This is still a major issue today.
Justice Burger also said this concerning the misconstrued concept of the
separation of church and state:
"The concept of a 'wall' of separation between church and state...is not an
accurate description of the practical aspects of the relationship that in fact
exists. The Constitution does not require complete separation of church and
state; it affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all
religions, and forbids hostility toward any. Anything less would require the
'callous indifference', that was never intended by the Establishment
Clause...Indeed, we have observed, such hostility would bring us into 'war with
our national tradition as embodied in the First Amendment's guaranty of the free
exercise of religion..."
Today, the government is trying to come into our churches to tell us what we can
and cannot do. They’ve already succeeded in the businesses sector. They’ve taken
God out of the public schools. They’ve indoctrinated our children with their
liberal ideas through television, movies, and music. We cannot – we must not –
allow them to invade our churches. The day that happens, we have lost the war.
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September 9, 2015
Title: Should Christians Ask God to Bless America
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Mark Tooley
with Institute on Religion and Democracy www.theIRD.org
Mark Tooley is an expert on American and church history with the
Institute on Religion and Democracy. Today, Mark discusses the Russian-Jewish immigrant
Irving Berlin who wrote “God Bless America” in 1918 and released the lyrics at the beginning of World War II. When he immigrated to America to escape religious persecution, Irving realized that, while still flawed, America was the safest place in the world for Jews.
Irving Berlin’s original verse in the song was: “God bless America land that I love. Stand beside her, guide her to the right, through the night with the light from above.” The wording was changed because
“the right” was not favorable looked upon during the era this song was written.
Listen in as Mark Tooley discusses whether or not Christians should still pray for America.
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July 15, 2015
Title: Out of Line Preachers
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Mark Tooley
with Institute on Religion and Democracy www.theIRD.org
Recently, a group of mostly liberal Protestant Clergy rebuked Conservative
Tennessee Legislators for NOT expanding Medicaid in their state. Since when did
ministers start sticking their nose into Obamacare, telling elected officials
what they should and should not do?
Mark Tooley explains how this group of men and women believe Biblical Scripture
commands the government provide welfare services to the poor. Mark says, “It’s
ironic that (many of these) clergy members do not believe in the authority of
Scriptures, but for political usage they are claiming the Scripture demands the
expansion of Medicaid.” We should be wary, however, to not pick and choose just
a few verses here and there for our benefit.
Please do not misunderstand Mark and Terry’s positions on the Lord’s command
that we are to help those less fortunate than us. They both firmly agree that it
is the church’s responsibility to help those in need. But is it the governments?
Listen in as Mark gives a dire warning about why it is so dangerous to blindly
follow people simply because they are pastors.
Mark Tooley can found be [here].
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May 18, 2015
Title: Out of Line Preachers
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Mark Tooley
with Institute on Religion and Democracy www.theIRD.org
Recently, a group of mostly liberal Protestant Clergy rebuked Conservative
Tennessee Legislators for NOT expanding Medicaid in their state. Since when did
ministers start sticking their nose into Obamacare, telling elected officials
what they should and should not do?
Mark Tooley explains how this group of men and women believe Biblical Scripture
commands the government provide welfare services to the poor. Mark says, “It’s
ironic that (many of these) clergy members do not believe in the authority of
Scriptures, but for political usage they are claiming the Scripture demands the
expansion of Medicaid.” We should be wary, however, to not pick and choose just
a few verses here and there for our benefit.
Please do not misunderstand Mark and Terry’s positions on the Lord’s command
that we are to help those less fortunate than us. They both firmly agree that it
is the church’s responsibility to help those in need. But is it the governments?
Listen in as Mark gives a dire warning about why it is so dangerous to blindly
follow people simply because they are pastors.
Mark Tooley can found be [here].
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February 10, 2014
Title: There is no wall….
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Written by Bill Federer
with American Minute (www.AmericanMinute.com)
Just stop and understand these two statements made by of Former US Supreme Court
Justice:
"The First Amendment, however, does not say that in every and all respects there
shall be a separation of Church and State...
Otherwise the state and religion would be aliens to each other - hostile,
suspicious, and even unfriendly...
Municipalities would not be permitted to render police or fire protection to
religious groups.
Policemen who helped parishioners into their places of worship would violate the
Constitution.”
Does that Officer direct traffic out of your church’s parking lot? Should that
be in violation of the U.S. Constitution?
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January 29, 2014
Title: There Is NO Wall
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Bill Federer
with American Minute (www.AmericanMinute.com)
Part 1 of 2
Supreme Court Justice William Orville Douglas was the longest serving
Justice, serving 36 years. Appointed by FDR, he was NOT considered a
conservative.
Yet, writing about the “Wall of Separation between Church and State” he
remarked: “Municipalities would not be permitted to render police or fire
protection to religious groups. Policemen who helped parishioners into their
places of worship would violate the Constitution.”
Sign up for Bill’s free daily updates at www.AmericanMinute.com.
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Title: Part 2 of 2
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Bill Federer
with American Minute (www.AmericanMinute.com)
Bill continues discussing the words that are NOT found in our Constitution: “The
Separation of Church and State.”
If those words were actually in the Constitution, then every time a policeman
goes to the aid of someone at a house of worship, they would be breaking the
U.S. Constitution.
If those words were actually in the US Constitution, you would have a harder
time exiting most churches because the office could NOT help direct traffic for
those trying to exit the parking lot.
Oh, did I give the atheist a new idea on how to sue?
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August 27, 2010
Title: Will Arlington Cemetery Be Bulldozed Along with Houston’s Veteran’s Cemetery?
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt
with Pray In Jesus Name (www.PrayInJesusName.org)
It all began in 1998, when the first of 14 “offensive” steel crosses was erected along Utah interstates in what has become a chain of memorials to honor fallen Utah Highway Patrol officers. From that day on, American Atheists, Inc. has predictably been on a mission to bring the crosses down because they stand on government land, emblazoned with the Utah Highway Patrol emblem. Federal Judge ruled: Take Them Down!
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November 23, 2009
Title: IS THE MISCONCEPTION OF THE “SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE” TEARING THE US APART? Part 1 of 2
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Ted Shoebat
with Ted Shoebat (www.TedShoebat.com)
Guest Ted Shoebat is the author of the new book: “For God or for Tyranny: When Nations Deny God’s Natural Law”. In the book, he addresses several key points: Has the American judicial system walked away from its Christian heritage - or has the bureaucracy walked away from OUR Christian heritage?
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Title: IS THE MISCONCEPTION OF THE “SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE” TEARING THE US APART? Part 2 of 2
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Ted Shoebat
with Ted Shoebat (www.TedShoebat.com)
Today’s generation refuses to listen to middle-aged or senior adults on issues that face our nation like abortion, health care, taxes, and religion. They’ve been bombarded with secularism in high school and college - even as young as elementary school now. So, how can we change theses young people’s attitudes and the direction our nation is heading?
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October 9, 2009
Title: GOD HATERS AND GOD DENIERS
Topic: Separation of Church and State
Discussed by Tara Ross
with www.TaraRoss.com
What have past Presidents done to insure that religion is the root of America’s history? What would these Presidents say today if they knew about all the religious freedoms that are being stripped away from Americans, little by little?
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