Texas' Abbott, Paxton Urge Congress to Allow Political Endorsements From Pulpits

One of the tangential issues to come up repeatedly during the 2016 Presidential Campaign was the fight over the 63-year-old Johnson amendment, which bans religious organizations from contributing to or endorsing political campaigns. During the campaign, Donald Trump and Dallas mega-church pastor Robert Jeffress called for killing the law during numerous public appearances.

On Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton lent their support for the idea with a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. “Since the Johnson Amendment, however, churches have been kept on the sidelines of political debate,” Abbott and Paxton wrote. “The Free Speech Fairness Act will ensure that churches may once again freely participate in government.”

Abbott and Paxton proceed to take a few swipes at Lyndon B. Johnson, who they say wrote the amendment to protect his seat in the United States Senate, before claiming that the amendment strikes at the religious liberty of all Americans.

“Religious liberty is a cornerstone of our republic. From the birth of the nation until passage of the Johnson Amendment, churches and pastors played a vital role in bringing a faith perspective to the pressing political issues of the day,” they write.

Read more: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/texas-governor-greg-abbott-and-attorney-general-ken-paxton-dont-like-the-separation-of-church-and-state-9341852