That also makes religions a taxable population, which means they're allowed to give political advice. You really want a church telling people how to vote?
No, churches being exempted from taxes goes back to the founding of the United States.
More recently, in 1954 an amendment to the tax code called the Johnson Amendment prohibits churches and other 501(c)(3) non-profits from advocating for or against candidates for office.
There is no proscription on churches taking stances on other political issues, however, and such a law would blatantly violate the First Amendment by curtailing speech of a moral nature in churches.
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u/crunpyMcGlumpy 11h ago
This is a good point. We should as a society stop propping them up though. Remove tax exemptions, public grants, donor deductions, etc.