The 501(c)3 Conspiracy, the Johnson Amendment, and Political Neutrality

People don't realize it, but the long-standing tradition of keeping churches tax free is actually ancient, and it's because Christ is King.

Long before 501(c)(3) status existed—before the IRS, before the American Revolution, before the first Enlightenment bureaucrat ever muttered the phrase “separation of church and state”—there was a principle embedded in English common law and Christian political theory that simply said: the lesser cannot tax the greater. And this wasn’t some abstract philosophical footnote. It was legal bedrock. It was theological steel. It was common sense in an age when Christ was still regarded as King over kings and Lord over legislatures.

The church was tax-exempt not because of some administrative form or favorable statute, but because the Church was understood to be the Body of Christ on earth. Kings did not tax God. Period. And since the Church is the visible manifestation of Christ’s Kingdom in this age, to tax the Church was to presume authority over Christ Himself—a theological impossibility in any society that claimed to be Christian. This was not charity status. This was jurisdictional acknowledgment. The Church answered to God, not the Crown.

This is why, for centuries, Western nations recognized the Church as untouchable by the taxman. Not because the Church provided social services. Not because she was “non-profit.” But because she belonged to a jurisdiction higher than the state. And when Christian kings ruled, they ruled under the crown of Christ. Even tyrants trembled at the idea of taxing the Church, for to do so was to declare oneself greater than the Son of God.

RENDER UNTO CAESAR — BUT ONLY WHAT IS HIS

Our Lord settled the matter with surgical precision when He said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). That line has been twisted by liberal theologians and statist Christians into a warrant for unlimited governmental reach. But the point was not that Caesar gets his cut of everything—the point was that Caesar has limits, and that there are some things that do not belong to him at all.

So what belongs to God? The Church. The Gospel. The sacraments. The preaching of the Word. The people bought with blood. These are not Caesar’s property. They are not his to audit. And they are certainly not his to bribe into silence.

For a church to seek tax exemption from the IRS is like a nobleman asking a peasant for permission to enter his own land. It’s a category error. The Church does not ask Caesar for permission to be free. The Church declares it. “For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; He will save us” (Isaiah 33:22). He is our authority, not the bloated technocrats of the federal revenue service.

CHURCH EXEMPTION IS A TENET OF CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM

Let us make no mistake: the historical practice of tax exemption for churches is not some neutral policy, as though it could be easily swapped out for a more “modern” arrangement. It is, and always has been, a confessional declaration—a testimony that Christ, not Caesar, is King. When a nation refuses to tax its churches, it is not simply being charitable. It is acknowledging a higher court.

This is why Christian nations throughout history gave churches legal immunities, tax protections, and spiritual independence. It wasn’t favoritism. It was theological recognition. The moment a king begins to tax the church, he declares himself lord over her. And the moment the church accepts that tax, she bows to a different master.

Church tax exemption is therefore not a bureaucratic footnote. It is an act of Christian nationalism, a visible acknowledgment that the nation lies beneath Christ, and that His Body is beyond the reach of lesser kings.

We have forgotten this because we have let limp-wristed scholars like Thomas Kidd and emotionally stunted regime mouthpieces like Russell Moore rewrite history with crayons and cowardice. Men like these peddle the gospel of timidity. They believe in submission to whatever the state declares so long as they can keep their invitations to NPR. They scold anyone who suggests that pastors might, on occasion, say something controversial. They have a visceral allergy to boldness, especially when that boldness involves calling Caesar to repent

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CAESAR HAS NO JURISDICTION HERE

Christ did not die for His bride so that she could fill out tax forms and wait for permission slips from Washington. The Church is not a subsidiary of the U.S. Treasury. She is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). She is the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). What part of that suggests she needs to be careful not to offend the IRS?

For too long, the church in America has operated under a delusion of subordination—believing that tax-exempt status is a privilege to be earned by playing nice. But privileges can be revoked. Rights cannot. And the Church’s right to speak truth to power is not derived from tax code. It is a gift of God, and woe to the man who squanders it.

When Christ commissioned the apostles, He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:18–19). That is not a spiritualized metaphor. That is a declaration of global dominion. And it does not leave room for Christ’s Church to check with the IRS before preaching boldly.

WE WILL SPEAK, AND THEY WILL TREMBLE

The only reason the Johnson Amendment ever worked is because pastors allowed it to. It had no fangs. Only fear. It was a bluff—and they fell for it. But that era is ending. The muzzle is off, and now we will speak. Not as lapdogs of the state. Not as licensed moral referees. Not as tax-compliant motivational speakers. We will speak as ambassadors of a foreign kingdom, proclaiming a higher law and demanding repentance from the kings of the earth.

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