When the IRS announced in July that it was reinterpreting a decades-old law barring churches from making political endorsements, the Rev. Jonathan Barker of Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who has a history of political activism, welcomed the change.
Barker, who led Grace Lutheran for nine years, has participated in hunger strikes and was arrested for protesting climate change outside a 2024 Republican presidential candidate debate. He invited Joe Biden in 2020 after racial unrest following the police shooting of a Black man.
When he heard the news, Barker seized the opportunity and planned to be among the first church leaders in the U.S. to take advantage — until his denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, told him that making an endorsement from the pulpit would be a step too far. Barker, whose wife is expecting their second child, resigned and issued his endorsement during a service at an event space Sunday with about nine people in attendance.
A new pastor led services from Barker’s old pulpit.
Barker endorsed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, urging her to run for president in 2028. He described her as a “what would Jesus do candidate” and cited her work on climate change, the minimum wage and universal health care. Ocasio-Cortez has not announced that she’s running.
There is some question about whether the IRS gave churches the OK to endorse. A vague statement said the ban should no longer apply if churches endorse candidates to their own congregations in connection with a worship service. The decision came after two Texas churches sued the IRS last year, seeking to invalidate a 1954 law, known as the Johnson Amendment, that says churches and charities could lose their tax-exempt status if they endorse candidates.
The case was settled, but the statement gave supporters of endorsing hope as the IRS is the agency that enforces the ban.
Conservative churches saw the new interpretation as a green light to endorse, and the Family Research Council, which backs conservative values, said that it was organizing 18,000 pastors to endorse candidates for next year’s midterms.
The Family Research Council hailed the IRS move as a win for free speech.
“For nearly two decades, Family Research Council and FRC Action have sought to repeal the Johnson Amendment, which has been used to intimidate pastors and censor the pulpit. Pastors should be free to speak from a biblical perspective on cultural issues and candidates — censorship of free speech should never occur,” said the group’s president, Tony Perkins, in a statement.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago, said he wouldn’t endorse a candidate from the pulpit. Pfleger is active in anti-violence efforts, and this month welcomed Democratic members of the Texas Legislature who fled the state to fend off a GOP-led effort to redraw congressional maps to benefit President Donald Trump.
Pfleger said he anticipates more fights between churches and pastors as the midterm and presidential elections approach, but he thinks the IRS rule change won’t be seen as an OK for those who endorse candidates on the Democratic side.
“Let us not be deceived into thinking that this is an open door for pastors to endorse. It’s an open door for those who stand with Trump, and there will be consequences and repercussions for those that don’t,” Pfleger said.
Despite the IRS’ apparent reinterpretation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church has told pastors that its ban on endorsements is still in place. Leaders of the faith hope to avoid dividing congregations.
Barker said he was surprised that his superiors forced him to decide between making his endorsement and keeping his job.
“If you asked me last week, I would have said that this feels very similar to everything else we have done,” Barker said. “It isn’t more radical for going on a 12-day fast for the Green New Deal or hosting candidate Biden in the fall stretch of an election right after an uprising. So I was really caught off guard when it became an issue with our denomination.”
Bishop Paul Erickson, the Evangelical Lutheran Church’s leader in the greater Milwaukee area, said there was a difference between being politically active and endorsing a specific politician. Erickson said he didn’t have the power to fire Barker, but he strongly urged him to reconsider. Erickson worried that an endorsement could put the church’s tax-exempt status at risk.
“There is a line that is crossed when one from the pulpit endorses a political party or political candidate that I believe is unwise and unfaithful,” Erickson said. “When we equate one candidate or one party with the word of God, I think that’s unwise and dangerous territory to enter. You’re claiming the word of God, it is not your personal opinion. So to equate one candidate or party with the word of God is not the road we want to head down.”
Additionally, Erickson has concerns that another administration could reverse the IRS decision.
“This suspension by the IRS of the Johnson Amendment is a nonbinding statement that they can revoke in a heartbeat,” Erickson said. “And if they do go after someone, this administration would likely go after someone who has a different political opinion than they do. They support those who support their candidate, but they can go against those who don’t.”
A small crowd attended services Sunday at Grace Lutheran. It was followed by a meeting to discuss church operations, including who had the congregation’s Facebook password.
Afterward, church member Greg Foster, who worked closely with Barker for years, said Barker was a friend who he supported in the past, but he felt that the pastor’s political activism had crossed a line.
“I actually resigned a month before he did,” Foster said. “He’s a very good man. It’s just that I don’t share a lot of his views. He couldn’t put politics aside.”
Barker, now without a congregation, said he likely would continue preaching online and has already been asked by other groups to give speeches on climate issues. He said that although he was disappointed by the low turnout at his endorsement sermon, he said that he hoped his stance would grow like the biblical story of the mustard seed.
“What I realized is that sometimes we get to go with our whole faith community, and sometimes we’re called to do things boldly by ourselves. I hope this is a mustard seed moment.”