Pastor Robert Jeffress to testify on how Biden admin. targeted First Baptist Dallas

Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas will testify this week about how the church was targeted by the IRS under the Biden administration as the Trump administration continues to take steps to prioritize religious liberty and allow pastors to speak about politics from the pulpit.

During worship service Sunday morning at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, Jeffress requested prayers from the congregation as he announced his plans to testify at a Religious Liberty Commission hearing Wednesday.

Noting how the Commission is chaired by Texas’ Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson, Jeffress explained that “They have asked me to come and tell our story about what the Internal Revenue Service attempted to do to us.”

“For those of you who may not be familiar with it, back in 2020, our church was having its annual Celebrate Freedom patriotic service,” he added. “The president sent his Vice President Mike Pence and a cabinet member, Ben Carson, to come that day.”

“We very carefully followed the guidelines by the IRS in having a potential candidate for president here and we did not officially endorse anyone,” Jeffress insisted.

According to Jeffress, “Instead, both Vice President Pence and Ben Carson shared their faith testimonies of how they came to know Jesus as Savior.” 

“Immediately after that, the atheist organization Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a complaint with the IRS about it,” Jeffress recalled. “The IRS didn’t do anything for 11 months until Joe Biden became president of the United States, and as soon as that happened, in May of that year, they filed a complaint and they announced a church inquiry.”

Jeffress detailed how “we spent a year fighting that case; we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Describing the ordeal as an “all-inclusive battle,” Jeffress stressed, “What was important about this battle was it was the first time the Internal Revenue Service ever threatened a church because of something they did within a worship service of a church.” 

Jeffress praised the congregation for remaining “resolved in this,” adding, “The deacons gave us the authority and support to take this case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.” The pastor highlighted how, amid the legal battle, “the IRS reversed themselves, they closed the investigation, and they said we had done nothing to violate the Internal Revenue tax code.” 

“Our church could afford hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said as he elaborated on the reason for his testimony before the Religious Liberty Commission. “Most churches could not afford to do that, and no church should ever have to do that. It is not any business of the government what happens in the pulpit of this church. It is none of their business.”

Jeffress’ insistence that the government should not interfere with what happens at his church drew loud applause from the congregation. “We are going Wednesday to try to make sure this never happens again to a church,” he declared. “The government has no ability to discern what is proper and improper speech in a pulpit. That is not their business,” he reiterated. 

“The first freedom that our forefathers gave us was the free exercise of religion. That’s what the First Amendment is all about,” he concluded. “I’m grateful God is using our church to stand for this larger cause in our country right now.”

Jeffress indicated that the hearing will be livestreamed by the DOJ, with his remarks scheduled for around 12 p.m. CT. The hearing, which will focus primarily on religious liberty in the military, will take place in Dallas from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. CT. 

In a letter submitted to the IRS in July 2020, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation alleged that Jeffress engaged in “potential illegal political campaigning” during Pence’s visit to the church a month earlier. “It is our understanding that Pastor Robert Jeffress endorsed candidates Donald Trump and Mike Pence during Pence’s visit to the church on June 28, 2020,” FFRF Staff Attorney Madeline Ziegler claimed. 

“Jeffress said ‘President Trump, we love you,’ and, admitting that ‘I probably shouldn’t say this,’ continued by indicating ‘we are hoping and we are praying’ that Pence would be re-elected vice president and then run for president,” Ziegler declared as a footnote in the letter linked to a video of the service in question. 

Ziegler maintained that Jeffress broke the law regarding tax-exempt status for houses of worship: “IRS regulations specify that 501(c)(3) organizations, which include churches and other religious organizations, are prohibited from ‘[participating in or intervening in] ... any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.’” 

Earlier this year, the IRS assured pastors and religious leaders that they could endorse their preferred political candidates from the pulpit without worrying about losing their tax-exempt status. The IRS’ move comes nearly a decade after President Donald Trump vowed to “work very hard to repeal that language” prohibiting pastors from endorsing political candidates during his first presidential bid in 2016.