The president’s recent spate of executive orders; the continuing debate surrounding his immigration ban; the fallout resulting from his contentious interactions with two of our most trusted allies (Australia and Mexico); and his shocking defense of Vladimir Putin, a criminal, dictator and human rights violator, succeeded in deflecting attention from his fiery pronouncement to “destroy” the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits churches from engaging in political activity at the risk of losing their tax-exempt status. What the distractions failed accomplish, however, was diminishing the importance of safeguarding the principle of the separation of church and state.
Rooted in the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution, as articulated by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 and later cited by the Supreme Court in 1879 and 1947, the importance of separation has endured throughout our 200-plus year history – and for good reason. The Johnson Amendment, passed in 1954, merely reaffirmed this long-held legal opinion that religious influence in the shaping of public policy is divisive, deconstructive, and thus should be avoided.
The rationale that our government should not give preference to a church or religious institution is, simply, as sound today as it was more than two centuries ago. Our Founding Fathers had it right then, and so must we now.
Simply put, if Congress were to repeal the Johnson Amendment, at Trump’s bidding, it would set into motion a cascade of influence-peddling and preference-giving to religious entities that would have a destructive effect upon the conduct of our free and open democratic republic. The competition for political advantage alone would likely pit religious group against religious group and ideology against ideology. Moreover, the religious institutions with greater financial resources would no doubt hold political sway over those with fewer, conferring upon the former an unfair advantage. In the final analysis, the effects would be manifold and would do little more than exacerbate the yawning political tensions, divisions and discord that are already extant in the country.
Trump’s intentions, in short, are reckless, without merit, and constitute a legal rabbit hole into which we should not descend.
Richard Hebhardt is a semi-retired educator who has lived in Juneau since 2005. He formerly was a superintendent for the Bristol Bay Borough, Copper River and Skayway school districts, and currently provides consulting services to school districts across the state. His opinions are his own.
