Trump Repeal Will Help the Religious Left

FEATURE COMMENTARY

By JIM PURCELL, MPS

The president of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump, is advocating repealing a rarely enforced rule at the IRS that says pastors who endorse candidates from the pulpit place losing their tax exempt status at risk. According to YahooNews, the president said, "I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution."

This struck me today, and I will explain why. As the former associate pastor for the Stelton Baptist Church, in Edison, New Jersey (2006-2010), there were regularly stringent warnings from American Baptist Churches -- New Jersey to avoid preaching politics from the pulpit of churches. This was despite the fact that the denomination, in my opinion, endlessly endorsed right-wing causes and politicians of every stripe. In fact, in my practical experience, this IRS edict did relatively nothing to silence the Religious Right and was , instead, used almost exclusively to silence the Religious Left.

I remember the Right within American Baptist Churches, during 2007 or 2008, actually mandating that denominational seminarians and clergy sign oaths stating that they would not advocate abortion politically or participate in any marriage ceremony involving gay couples. I know this because I was asked to sign this at the First Baptist Church of Long Branch, and I declined to put my signature on any such thing. 

You see, when the denomination, especially in the person of its then and current leader, Bishop Lee Spitzer, put out anti-abortion rhetoric and anti-homosexual rhetoric from the pulpit years ago, it was promoting a religious/political agenda. The Religious Right wraps themselves up in the belief that their translations of scripture, called exegesis, are so absolutely correct that it is something other than their personal politics -- that their opinions transcend their opinions and enter into some kind of hallowed truth. Of course, that is not true.

There are many opinions about how to read and interpret biblical scripture. To interpret scripture along political lines, especially the politics that one subscribes to, is inconsistent with Christian preaching and teaching. It should be the Lord's message found in the Lord's Word ideally, not the message of the person preaching, the human who has ulterior motives and agendas. The message of whomever happens to be preaching that day should not be the one that is searched for in the Bible fervently to support some personal belief they hold. It should be, it must be the Word of God, given to us in the Bible. Still, the world is what it is, and honest and true it is not. 

I vividly recall liberal clergy in American Baptist Churches -- New Jersey, several years ago as of this writing, being very bullied by this law that Mr. Trump plans on repealing. It is Right Wing clergy that espoused this law, who used it as a weapon against their more liberal colleagues to gain their silence. Some of us liberals, though, would not shut up. Some of us were sanctioned informally by our denominations, if not formally...because we interpreted scripture in ways that were not popular with powerful cliques in our religions. Some of us preached reconciliation with the gay and homosexual community, and some of us advocated for the life of a mother over the life of a fetus. Unlike conservatives, progressive clergy does not tend to group together in groups. My censure was one that was an example, I suppose, for people who might speak their mind over the party line. 

In my case, there were several things that stymied my career decreed from the Bishop's office. On top of that, despite winning a scholarship from my denomination that year, it was never paid because I had refused to take part in bias against homosexuals in the community. 

 However, I do not think Mr. Trump quite understands what he is doing with this action. He will, in essence, empower those who have been silent to speak out, some for the first time, because they will no longer have the long arm of this law hanging over their head. Mr. Trump's supporters are not the ones who were impacted by this law -- it was those who would be sending messages in direct opposition to Mr. Trump's self-proclaimed 'Christian Agenda' who would be emboldened by this action. 

Conservative watchdogs masquerading as clergy would no longer have their 'big threat' over their colleagues. So, I think this is a good repeal of a bad law, though it may be one that Mr. Trump regrets doing in the near and long term. Truly, removing this road bump to free speech will have a positive effect.