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O'Daniel, the historian who authored an in-depth study of this legislation, points out that two things are clear; the restriction on electioneering was motivated solely by Senator Johnson's calculated effort to protect his own political skin and the Senator wasn't concerned in the slightest about the activities of churches. The Senator's own staff supported this view, and the actions of the Senator to secure support from churches when it benefitted him show some validitity to such statements.

Gilgoff's declaration of legality by default of the Johnson Amendment of 1954 runs into immediate and constitutional rough waters when applied to the standards of the First Amendment verbage and historical understanding. In an article entitled, Of Politics and Pulpits: A First Amendment analysis of IRS restrictions on the political activities of religious organizations, Steffen N. Johnson explores some of the policy justifications offered in support of restricting the political activities of tax-exempt religious organizations.

"Our nation has demonstrated a 'profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open'." Johnson points out and cites free exercise as being described as our "first freedom" to which the Supreme Court observes "a free-speech clause without religion would be Hamlet without the prince."

Throughout American history, until the moment in time in 1954 when a person agenda hijacked the American political process, Churches have been free to engage in "public debate over issues, morality, and other matters of conscience." Political and religious speech are at the core of the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech........"

Arguments, like Gilgoff's, that the restrictions imposed by Johnson's amendment is justified "because it is inappropriate or unseemly" for churches to engage in the political process of this country are in direct opposition, Stefan Johnson points out, to historical and societal understanding of traditional roles of such religious organizations. "As long as anyone can remember, churches have raised society's consciousness regarding political issues," Johnson argues, "[by commenting] on the culture, [rebuking] its leaders, and boldly [denoucing] its mores."
Political struggles regarding slavery, taxation, capital punishment, and civil rights are all marked

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