The U.S. government has already taken a lot of power from the Church, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will not take this sitting down.
In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, the controversial business tycoon, who identifies himself as a Christian, said he wants "to give power back to the Church because the Church has to have more power."
"Essentially, they've taken a lot of the power away from the Church... Christianity is really being chopped; little by little it's being taken away," Trump said in his interview, as quoted by Charisma News.
The presidential aspirant, who is leading with evangelicals in South Carolina, attributed the Church's loss of power to the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which changed a portion of the U.S. tax code to prohibit tax-exempt groups like churches from endorsing or opposing political candidates.
"I think Christians in our country are not treated properly. The bill that was passed during the Lyndon Johnson era is horrible because I see churches where they're afraid to be outspoken because they don't want to lose their tax-exempt status and I realise that is one of the problems," Trump said.
He added that he knows some pastors who want to endorse him but "they're afraid to endorse anybody because they don't want to get political."
The Republican presidential hopeful also said he wants pastors to be able to speak more openly about their beliefs if he wins the White House race.
"I want pastors to be able to speak. They're afraid to speak now, they're afraid to get involved in politics because of tax-exempt status and I want pastors to be able to speak. ... I want pastors and ministers to be able and get up and speak on behalf of Christianity," Trump said.
"They're afraid to do it right now because they don't want to lose their tax exempt status. We will take care of that," he said.
