{"id":3540,"date":"2026-07-18T13:36:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T13:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3540"},"modified":"2026-07-18T13:36:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T13:36:44","slug":"invisible-to-the-public-baptist-minister-exposes-new-trump-con-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3540","title":{"rendered":"‘Invisible to the public’: Baptist minister exposes new Trump con game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Salon guest writer Andrew Daugherty says President Donald Trump\u2019s Religious Liberty Commission aims to turn churches into political action committee moneybags.<\/p>\n

Read more The staggering corruption behind Todd Blanche\u2019s multi-million scheme<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe most efficient campaign finance vehicle in American history is tax-exempt, requires no donor disclosure and is available in virtually every zip code in the country. For 70 years, it has operated under one rule: It cannot endorse a political candidate,\u201d said Daugherty. \u201cThe Religious Liberty Commission, which delivered its report to President Donald Trump on June 26, would like to remove that rule. They\u2019re calling it religious freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Daugherty, a Christian minister of an American Baptist congregation for more than 20 years, says he knows the difference between protecting a church and conscripting one: \u201cA government that wants to free the church, to borrow Trump\u2019s language, is usually trying to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1954 Johnson Amendment restricts churches, religious organizations and other tax-exempt nonprofits from endorsing political candidates or funneling tax-deductible donations into partisan campaigns. Church leaders can preach hard and heavy on moral and social issue, but the tax-exempt status line stops at candidate endorsements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, the amendment is the last structural barrier between the American church and full absorption into the machinery of partisan politics,\u201d said Daugherty. \u201cThe claim that this constitutes religious suppression is the oldest con in the game. Every American pastor has the same First Amendment rights as any other citizen. What the Johnson Amendment restricts is tax-exempt dollars in partisan politics. Churches pay no federal taxes. In exchange, they stay out of the candidate-endorsement business. Void it, and that deal ends \u2014 and every church in America becomes a PAC with better branding and transparency requirements and endorsed by a divine mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imagine a donor writing a federal tax-deductible check to their congregation. Then the church endorses the candidate of their choice, bundles those contributions and runs voter registration drives for one party. Plus, it does it all without a political action committees\u2019 disclosure requirement.<\/p>\n

Read more What Trump really revealed in his secret documents \u2014and what he left out<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is tax-exempt political spending, passed through the offering plate and invisible to the public record,\u201d said Daugherty, and this is a mistake that could further destroy the American church.<\/p>\n

\u201cChurch attendance has collapsed at a pace that would have seemed impossible just a generation ago,\u201d he argued. \u201cAccording to a 2024 Pew Research study, the fastest-growing religious identity in America is \u2018none.\u2019 The research on why people leave does not point to boredom or busyness. It points to disgust at what organized religion has become. The Christian right has spent five decades getting closer to power and losing the one thing it cannot buy back: The credibility to speak to anyone outside its own coalition.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Trump\u2019s commission doesn\u2019t appear discouraged by this information. And Daugherty said their plans go beyond just ending the Johnson Amendment. They propose putting an end to the separation of church and state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe separation has existed because both institutions require protection from each other. When such safeguards are removed, the bridge comes with a toll booth, and the commission is waving one side through,\u201d said Daughtry. \u201cThis is state power reinforcing evangelical Christianity, and evangelical Christianity legitimizing state power. The commission calls it \u2018partnership.\u2019 History calls it a state church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump is richer than he\u2019s ever been and loving the presidency \u2014 Americans not so much<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Salon guest writer Andrew Daugherty says President Donald Trump\u2019s Religious Liberty Commission aims to turn churches into political action committee moneybags.\u201cThe most efficient campaign finance vehicle in American history is tax-exempt, requires no donor disclosure and is available in virtually ev…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n'Invisible to the public': Baptist minister exposes new Trump con game - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3540\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Invisible to the public': Baptist minister exposes new Trump con game - 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