Robert Haslag
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
I respond today to Senate candidate Josh Hawley’s support of the repeal of the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits charities and particularly churches from endorsing publicly any political candidate. Hawley recently expressed his position to church groups statewide, including the Family Research Council, a religious organization demanding repeal. This newspaper’s Opinion Page has expressed opposition to Hawley’s position as have numerous religious organizations, including the Baptist General Convention of Missouri, more than 130 faith leaders in the state (opposed to 92 supporting its repeal), 100 Missouri non-religious non-profits and 87 percent of Americans.
There are two fundamental reasons for supporting the Johnson Amendment. The first is that the tax-exempt status of churches and all non-religious charitable organizations is based upon their non-participation in today’s political “wars.” Removing the Johnson Amendment would endanger this tax-exempt status. Charities must understand that they cannot protect that status and devolve into just another political activist group, thus having it both ways.
The second is simpler. Hawley’s assertion that the Johnson Amendment is a matter of religious freedom demonstrates his clear misunderstanding of the essence of faith. In this nation, there is absolutely no prohibition regarding the fundamental right of any pastor, minister, rabbi or imam as to what spiritual guidance they may give, excluding calls to violence. The principle enshrined in the Johnson Amendment is to protect our houses of worship from being dragged into today’s base political discourse. Read almost any letter submitted to this publication and you will find characterizations of the opposition such as that appearing in the letter’s section of Oct. 3, in which a submission concludes that, “How can one be a Democrat and an American at the same time?” I will not even contest that similar attitudes are conceived from the other side. The point is that I do not attend my Catholic Church as I have from my infancy for political guidance. I attend only for guidance for my spiritual life, my soul’s refreshment and solely to communicate with my God. In fact, should any priest presume to give me political direction; I would reject that guidance as outside his purview and a violation of his priestly role. Indeed, it would simply require me to exit that “temple” for good as an example of “white-washed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.”