The IRS recently announced that pastors should be able to openly endorse political candidates from the pulpit without risking their churches’ tax-exempt status. While some might celebrate this as “free speech” or “religious liberty,” we need to be clear: this is a direct, coordinated attack on Black power, spiritual, economic, and communal.
To some, this might sound like expanding religious freedom. But for those of us who truly understand how power and influence operate in this country, especially for Black people, this is a red flag waving right in our faces.
Since 1954, the Johnson Amendment has acted as a guardrail, preventing churches from turning into campaign offices. For Black communities, this separation was critical. Our churches have never just been places to worship; they’ve been strategy centers, hubs for economic empowerment, and safe havens where we could dream and build without interference. Our churches are, and have always been, the heart of our liberation movements.
This new IRS stance isn’t just a policy shift
It’s an open invitation for political actors to hijack our pulpits and funnel our spiritual influence straight into their campaigns. It’s no coincidence this comes at the same time we’re seeing DEI rollbacks, corporations pulling back on promises to Black businesses, and Project 2025 gaining momentum behind closed doors.
Project 2025 is a conservative roadmap designed to transform America into a theocratic, nationalist state, one where religion doesn’t just guide personal values but dictates public policy and power structures. Weakening the Johnson Amendment clears the way for churches, especially Black churches, to become political megaphones instead of moral compasses.
The Black church has always been a sanctuary of resistance and survival. During the Civil Rights Movement, our churches held strategy meetings, funded economic cooperatives, and built local power without ever selling their souls to a single candidate. Our moral clarity and independence have always been our shield.
When I spoke with Rev. Dr. W. E. Scott, Associate Minister at St. James A.M.E. Church, he reminded me that while faith and ethics should inform our politics, inviting churches to formally endorse candidates opens the door to corruption and exploitation. Churches aren’t supposed to become extensions of campaign war rooms; they’re meant to be sanctuaries for building community ethics and empowering collective care. He stressed that although the Johnson Amendment technically still stands, this IRS shift blurs lines and emboldens churches to act recklessly. This is exactly what some want: confusion, manipulation, and new ways to undermine independent Black leadership.
We also cannot ignore the economic impact
Our churches have always been at the center of Black economics, hosting pop-up markets for Black vendors, circulating money within the community, and pushing us to “Buy Black” as an act of survival and self-determination. Once a church starts endorsing candidates, that sacred trust is at risk. The same pulpit that encourages you to support a local Black business on Saturday might stand up on Sunday and tell you to vote for a candidate actively working against Black economic equity.
When I asked white pastors for their perspectives, I didn’t receive any replies.
Rev. C.J. Rhodes of Mount Helm Baptist Church put it clearly: turning the pulpit into a campaign stop doesn’t just divide, it strips pastors of their prophetic voice, the very voice meant to hold power accountable. Once a pastor endorses a candidate, they are no longer free to challenge that politician when their actions harm the community.
Minister and theologian Kacey Venning made it plain when she told me that turning the pulpit into a platform for political endorsements risks trading our prophetic voice for partisan power. The Black church was never meant to be a tool of the state. It was built to be the heartbeat of Black liberation, a place to organize, resist, and rise.
We have to connect the dots
The same forces pushing Project 2025 are the same ones behind corporate DEI retreats and economic boycotts. They want to control how we spend, how we worship, how we vote, and ultimately, how we live. It’s all connected. They are coming for every institution we have built to protect ourselves and push our liberation forward.
I say this not just as a Black woman or a business owner. I say this as a Black thought leader and economic strategist committed to protecting every layer of our collective power. I am the voice sounding the alarm so that we see this for what it is: a strategic dismantling of Black independence and a direct play for our souls and our dollars.
These moves are not random. They are deliberate steps in a bigger plan to erase independent Black power, undermine Black economics, and hijack Black liberation theology for political gain. That’s why I keep saying: all roads lead back to the same plan. Whether it’s corporations abandoning DEI, Project 2025 trying to fuse church and state, or attacks on Black economic initiatives, it’s all about dismantling every layer of power we have left.
Here’s what we need to do right now:
- If you are part of a church, talk to your leadership today. Ask for transparency and a commitment to keep the pulpit free from political endorsements.
- If you’re a Black business leader, understand the risk this poses to your customer relationships and community trust. Start having these conversations with your networks now.
- And if you are committed to Black liberation in any form, know that this is not the time to be silent or passive. We must educate, organize, and protect what our ancestors built.
They want to buy our votes, co-opt our dollars, and compromise our faith. But they can’t buy what we refuse to sell.
Stay alert. Stay sovereign. Stay ready.
About The Author: Nikki Porcher is a 2x Thought Leader of The Year and founder of the award-winning organization Buy From A Black Woman. She’s made it her mission to empower, educate, and inspire Black Women Business Owners; and to raise awareness for the need to support and #BuyFromABlackWoman.
Thank you for sharing your lens. Many people don’t see the bigger picture, but this breaks it wide open.
This isn’t just policy, this is a play for our POWER.
They already tried to strip our DEI.
They already starving out Black businesses.
Now they want the PULPIT,
the same pulpit that was our war room,
our safe haven,
our underground railroad in plain sight.
The Black church was never just Sunday songs,
it was and still is strategy.
It was and still is survival.
It is COVER.
Cover from a world that hunted us in daylight.
Cover to dream, build, and rise without asking permission.
And now they want to buy that cover.
Turn pastors into politicians.
Turn our sanctuary into campaign commercials.
But let me remind you,
the second you cash their check,
you can’t clap back when they sell you out.
This is coordinated.
DEI rollbacks. Project 2025. The pulpit for sale.
All roads lead to the same plan:
control how we worship, how we spend, how we vote, how we live.
Our ancestors didn’t pray, march, and build
so we could sell their bloodline for a photo op.
Protect the house.
Protect the strategy.
Don’t let them buy what we can’t afford to lose.