(RNS) — Free speech in America is being throttled, not with open bans, but with threats and intimidation. After Jimmy Kimmel spoke in his opening monologue Monday (Sept. 15) about Charlie Kirk’s murder, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr warned ABC that its broadcast license was at risk if Kimmel stayed on air, claiming he “misled” the public.
ABC pulled the plug on the show overnight, becoming complicit in the death of our First Amendment.
While this silencing has dominated the news, equally significant usurpations of freedom are going unnoticed. Trump is quietly targeting nonprofits by weaponizing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The program, begun in 2007, is designed to promote participation in nonprofit service organizations by forgiving the student debt of anyone who works for a public sector or nonprofit job for 10 years.
The White House has proposed a rule change to the PSLF program, based on a March 2025 executive order, that would give the secretary of education sweeping power to determine if an organization has engaged in activities with “substantial illegal purpose” and exclude it as eligible to benefit from the program.
That means nonprofits and their employees could be punished for carrying out their mission simply because it doesn’t align with the current administration’s. All of this would be carried out not by courts or juries, but by partisan officials with unchecked authority.
Everyone has a stake in stopping this blatantly illegal, dangerous and anti-democratic rule, but for faith communities in particular, this is not an abstract concern: If the government can decide which nonprofits are legitimate and which are not, it can just as easily target churches, faith-based charities and religious institutions whose teachings or missions conflict with those in power.
What may look like a narrow change to student loan forgiveness is part of a broader assault on the rule of law. It is an attempt by the current administration to shrink public debate, attack opponents, punish those who resist and undermine the independence of nonprofits, specifically nonprofits that focus on immigration, gender and health rights, racial and social justice — all causes the Trump administration opposes.
A judicial process to determine whether an organization is actually engaged in illegal activity already exists. The IRS also already has a set process for revoking tax-exempt status that protects due process. By shifting authority from judges to partisan appointees, this administration seeks to strip away constitutional checks and leave nonprofits, including faith groups, vulnerable to political harassment.
The implications are profound, and the precedent is dangerous. And like all things, this proposal cannot be viewed in isolation. This week, in the wake of new threats toward civil society organizations, more than 100 nonprofit organizations and philanthropic institutions issued an open letter warning against efforts to “crack down” on left-leaning funding. They stressed that silencing speech, restricting charitable giving and criminalizing nonprofit missions are direct assaults on democracy.
These threats are just another way authoritarian regimes abuse moments of national crisis or tragedy to expand government power and attack their political opponents. As Brendan Carr said in 2023, before he was appointed by Trump as chairman of the FCC: “Free speech is the counterweight—it is the check on government control. That is why censorship is the authoritarian’s dream.”
Protecting nonprofits means protecting the freedom of conscience and the ability of faith groups to live out their values without fear of government reprisal. If we let anyone have the power to decide whose voices matter, the First Amendment becomes a privilege, not a right. If nonprofits can be silenced, so can churches, community groups, immigrant advocates and anyone else who dares to speak truth to power.
(The Rev. Jim Wallis is Archbishop Desmond Tutu chair and director of Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice and the author, most recently, of New York Times bestseller “The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy.” The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.)