One thousand voters. Every week. In Houston mosques.

That number stopped me.

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The Houston Chronicle recently reported that Muslim leaders in Houston are working to register about 1,000 voters each week through local mosques. The effort came as Muslim leaders opposed Texas’ new social studies curriculum and called for greater Muslim participation in upcoming elections.

My first thought was immediate: the Johnson Amendment. My second: Where is the Church? But almost simultaneously, a deeper question surfaced: How politically free is a voter when the religious system around that voter has historically treated leaving the faith as an offense punishable by death? How free is someone to vote against what religious authorities say serves Islam—or against what he believes the Quran requires? When voters are mobilized inside the mosque, shouldn’t we at least ask where religious conviction ends and political pressure
begins?

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And that question brought me right back to the Johnson Amendment. We had just come through an Intercessors for America Prayer Strike over it, and from where I stood, it did not go well. IFA itself, along with National Religious Broadcasters and two Texas churches, had challenged the Johnson Amendment in federal court. In March, the case was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds without deciding the underlying constitutional challenge.

So how were mosques seeking to register 1,000 voters a week? The answer was simpler than I expected. The Johnson Amendment doesn’t prohibit churches or mosques from conducting voter-registration efforts. The IRS permits neutral, nonpartisan voter-registration and get-out the-vote efforts.

But that raises another question: Can a mosque and its leaders truly remain neutral and nonpartisan, particularly when voting may conflict with religious expectations? I’m not so sure they can. But I do know this: Christians can engage lawfully and nonpartisanly, and we should understand the freedoms already available to us.

Christians have prayed and fought over a law we’ve experienced as restraint, while Houston mosques are maximizing what that same law still allows. Have we allowed the Johnson Amendment to become larger in our minds than it actually is? Or has fear of crossing one legal line kept us far from activities that were never prohibited?

Scripture commends the sons of Issachar because they “had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chron. 12:32). Perhaps that’s where this begins: understand the times, understand the law, and then know what to do. Churches can register voters. Mosques can register voters.

Same law. Same boundary. So now the question isn’t only How are they doing this? It’s also: Why is the Church sitting out?

God told His people living in Babylon, “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:7). They lived in a culture that wasn’t their own, yet God’s command wasn’t withdrawal.

So why have so many Christians withdrawn? Is it fear of the Johnson Amendment, fear of division, or have we simply grown comfortable letting someone else occupy the public square?

Maybe the harder question is whether someone pushed the Church out, or whether the Church gradually learned to sit out. Isaiah gives us another picture: God’s people are called “the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in” (Isa. 58:12). Repairers don’t abandon broken places; they enter them and rebuild.

And what we do now isn’t only about us. Psalm 78 tells God’s people to pass His truth forward so “the next generation might know them,” even children yet unborn, who would then teach their own children (Ps. 78:5–7). What kind of Church are we handing them—a Church that understands its times and knows how to stand in its generation, or one that learned to sit out?

There is also a standard we should be willing to apply in both directions. If Christians question Muslims organizing politically through religious communities, shouldn’t we also examine why Christians aren’t exercising the civic freedoms already available to us? Conversely, when Christians bringing biblical convictions into public life causes alarm, will society apply the same scrutiny when another religious community mobilizes around its convictions?

One law should mean one standard.

Maybe those 1,000 registrations aren’t merely a story about Houston mosques. Maybe they’re a mirror. Where have we mistaken caution for prohibition? Where have we treated a boundary as a barricade? And where have others learned to maximize freedoms we’ve experienced primarily as restraints?

James makes the responsibility even clearer: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17). If we know we have a lawful voice and choose not to use it, are we yielding that voice to others? If we don’t register, vote, educate and encourage
Christians to participate within the law, someone else will fill that space. And if we pray for righteous leadership but sit out the very civic process available to us, are we doing what we can to see righteous leadership represented? What will we do with what we know?

For intercessors, this should move us from prayer to engagement. Isaiah describes watchmen stationed on the walls who “shall never be silent” (Isa. 62:6–7). Prayer isn’t passive. Watchmen pray, see and speak.

So what can we do? Know what the law permits and make sure our churches know too. Register to vote and help others register. Consider becoming an IFA Church Ambassador or a Texas Volunteer Deputy Registrar. Encourage churches to engage in lawful, nonpartisan voter registration efforts, and communicate with elected representatives about the Johnson Amendment.

And if one law means one standard, let’s watch there too. We should demand the facts and research on mosque voter-registration efforts, follow the facts, document credible violations and report them through the proper channels. The same law should mean the same accountability.

Watchmen don’t sit out. We pray, understand the times and engage. If others are maximizing the freedoms available to them, why is the Church sitting out?

We need to pray:

Let’s pray for the Church to understand the times and know what to do (1 Chron. 12:32). Lord, give us discernment and wisdom to engage faithfully.

Let’s pray for courage where fear or uncertainty has caused us to withdraw. Awaken Your watchmen, Lord, and teach us to pray, speak and engage rather than sit out (Isa. 62:6–7).

Let’s pray for freedom of conscience—that every person would be free to believe, disagree and make choices without coercion. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17).

And let’s pray for the generation coming behind us. Father, help us faithfully steward the freedoms and responsibilities we’ve been given and teach the next generation to stand in theirs (Ps. 78:5–7).

How are you praying about this issue? Share your scriptures and prayers in the comments below.

Donna Phillips is IFA’s TX State Prayer Leader. Photo Credit: Photos.com/Photo Images via Canva Teams.