Tag Archives: Topic: Church Sovereignty

Barry Lynn at the Huffington Post: But some houses of worship do it anyway. They openly violate the law and even brag about it. One Religious Right outfit, the Alliance Defending Freedom, even sets aside a Sunday each year to encourage political chicanery. This is not a secret. Americans United has been pressing the IRS to put a stop to this for years. The agency continues to drag its feet.

Edmond Sun: Speakers for the event will Blair on the topic of “What Did the Founders Think? The Biblical Foundation of Government,” while Dan Fisher, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Yukon and a state representative for District 60, will speak on “What Did the Founders Do? The Black Robed Regiment.” Erik Stanley, an attorney and senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, will speak on the topic “What Can We Do? The Rights of Christians and Pastors in 2013.”

AP: A gay teacher challenging her firing by an Ohio Catholic school says the local union for Catholic educators has decided not to proceed with her complaint.

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement: But what should be reported is that the targeting by the IRS goes even deeper than what is just reported. Because the IRS has been targeting churches since the passage of the Johnson Amendment in 1954. There is no difference between what the IRS has been caught doing with conservative groups and what the IRS has done to churches for the last 59 years. Both are intimidation.

Steve Deace at Townhall: Last week’s column on getting the state out of marriage prompted some follow-up questions, which in this week’s piece I will attempt to answer.

The Columbus Dispatch: ‘Steadfast in the teaching of the church’: Bishop defends gay teacher’s firing

Campbell said earlier in the day that Hale was not fired because of her sexual orientation but because her “quasi-spousal relationship” with another woman violates the church’s moral teaching. He said Hale violated a teacher contract and Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus policy that prohibits immoral behavior and requires employees to follow general church tenets.

AP: A gay teacher who said she was fired by an Ohio Catholic school after her mother’s published obituary included the name of her partner is fighting to get her job back.

Reuters: The 60-year-old teacher, challenging his 2011 dismissal, had claimed his constitutional right to freedom of opinion trumped the Church’s right to employ only Catholics who agreed with the religious mission of their jobs.

Columbus Dispatch: The firing of a gay physical-education teacher from a Columbus Catholic high school would be a violation of a city ordinance if a complaint were filed and investigators determined the dismissal was based on her sexual orientation.

Religion Clause Blog: In United States v. Dillard, (D KA, April 19, 2013) a Kansas federal district court rejected a magistrate judge’s ruling (see prior posting) and held that

The Columbus Dispatch: An anonymous parent had written to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus, appalled that Hale had listed her female partner’s name in an obituary. Within weeks, Hale said, she was fired because she is in a gay relationship.

Washington Times: Fortunately, however, groups are beginning to pop up all over the nation, such as the Alliance Defense Fund, who held their fourth annual “Pulpit Initiative” to challenge the IRS into forgoing this Unconstitutional power. There also is HR 127, a bill to repeal the Johnson Amendment, which has been proposed by Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina’s Third District.

Peter J. Reilly at Forbes: Erik Stanley of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the nondenominational megachurch, told me that they are planning to appeal. The argument is that, in Tennessee, universities can run bookstores without affecting their property tax exemption and “family wellness centers” can run fitness clubs (As a matter of fact, the church has turned operation of the fitness center over to the YMCA), so churches should be able to also run both of them. For whatever it is worth, neither operation was a money maker.

Religion Clause Blog: McCarthy v. Fuller, (7th Cir., April  10, 2013), is a complicated dispute over who is entitled to the possession of documents and artifacts of Sister Mary Ephrem who claimed to have experienced a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary in which Mary told Sister Ephrem, “I am Our Lady of America.”

Religion Clause Blog: The South African Human Rights Commission yesterday issued a statement finding the Christian-affiliated Creare Training Centre has violated Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBTIs) rights to equality, dignity, religion, freedom of association, freedom and security of the person and education.

Glickstein, Jed, Should the Ministerial Exception Apply to Functions, Not Persons? (April 1, 2013). Yale Law Journal, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2242966

Religion Clause Blog: The New York Times reported earlier this week on the unusual recent decision by the Internal Revenue Service to revoke its 2003 “church plan” designation for the employee retirement plan of Hospital Center of Orange.

WV Record: Three church trustees of Apostolic Life Cathedral are suing the City of Huntington after they claim its municipal land use regulations will cause irreparable harm if they are forced to destroy a structure on their land instead of rehabilitating it.

Religion Clause Blog: In Christ Church Pentecostal v. Tennessee State Board of Equalization, (TN App., March 21, 2013), the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld a determination by the State Board of Equalization that a portion of a church’s multi-million dollar family life center is not exempt from property taxes.

AP: A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by an Indiana woman who says a Catholic diocese fired her from her teaching job because she had in vitro fertilization.

Religion Clause Blog: The Archdiocese attorney says that the court lacks jurisdiction over the case because deciding it would involve civil authorities in church affairs.

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement: America is in the midst of a debate on the definition of marriage, the foundation for a stable society and a stable home.  Americans desperately need to hear from their pastors what God says about marriage, the institution He created. This year, our country faces one of the most pressing issues in our history as efforts are underway to radically redefine the institution of marriage, the relationship that God established long ago in the Garden of Eden even before the Fall of mankind. . . . With all this in mind, Pulpit Freedom Sunday 2013 will be a Sunday focused on marriage.

Religion Clause Blog: As reported by AP,  yesterday Episcopal Bishop Charles von Rosenberg who heads the minority of congregations in South Carolina that remain loyal to The Episcopal Church filed a federal lawsuit against Bishop Mark Lawrence who heads the larger portion of the congregations that in 2012 broke away from the national church. The complaint (full text) in von Rosenberg v. Lawrence, (D SC, filed 3/6/2013)

Religion Clause Blog: A California state trial court has issued a tentative ruling (full text), subject to change if either party requests oral argument, in Diocese of San Joaquin v. Schofield, (Fresno Super. Ct., March 6, 2013).

Faith and Liberty Talkshow at Ohio Christian U. (2/28): Tim Throckmorton, Pastor of Crossroads Church, author of a number of books, board member of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, and political activist speaks with Dave Garrison, host of The Faith & Liberty Talk Show, and former U.S. Congressional candidate, about the issues pastors face when teaching biblical principles related to political matters. | Alliance Defending Freedom and Pulpit Freedom Sunday are mentioned in the broadcast.

TribLive.com: Allegheny County nonprofits that own tax-exempt properties will likely receive one or more of 2,800 letters this week asking them to prove to the Office of Property Assessments that they deserve the tax break.

Paul Coleman at Bell Towers: When is a church not a church? The answer – when the government says so. At least this is the case in several European countries, where a multi-tiered system is strictly operated and only the entities that reach the top tier are officially recognized as churches.

Press Democrat: The Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese is requiring its 200 schoolteachers to sign an agreement affirming that “modern errors” such as contraception, abortion, homosexual marriage and euthanasia are “matters that gravely offend human dignity.”

Jurist: The Constitutional Court of Hungary [official website, in Hungarian] on Tuesdaystruck down [judgment, PDF, in Hungarian, press release, in Hungarian] a law that outlines how churches are given official designation, finding that it was too political. Under the law, only Parliament could give churches official status.

Bill Blacquiere of Bethany Christian Services at Christian Post: We are working every day to protect our religious freedom. We are partnering with organizations like Focus on the Family, Alliance Defending Freedom, the Heritage Foundation, and the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance to safeguard religious freedom. But we need those who stand with us to let their voice be heard.

Religion Clause Blog: According to the Durham News & Observer, a Durham, North Carolina state trial court yesterday, finding no likelihood of success on the merits, denied a temporary restraining order against amplified music played at a popular local church.

Michael Foust at Baptist Press: Bylaw language defining marriage in the biblical sense doesn’t mean a church won’t face a suit or a complaint, but it does mean the church would be in a much better situation legally, said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for ADF. “I think we’re in a day where every church needs to have a statement in its bylaws of its doctrinal beliefs on marriage and sexuality,” Stanley told Baptist Press. “This is a proactive approach that churches can take to head off any claims of discrimination in the future, should they occur. There’s no magic language for such a bylaw statement, but it should be some form of a statement of the church’s religious beliefs.

Columbus Dispatch: A Catholic school assistant principal was fired yesterday over comments he made on his blog in support of gay marriage.

Religion Clause Blog: In Dias v. Archdiocese of Cincinnati, (SD OH, Jan.30, 2013), a former technology coordinator at two Catholic Archdiocese schools sued under Title VII claiming pregnancy discrimination after she was fired for being pregnant and unmarried, and for becoming pregnant through artificial insemination.

Erik Stanley on Wallbuilders Live to discuss the Pulpit Freedom Initiative. | MP3 10:46 mins

RealTruth.org: Partly as a result of this action, ministers across America risked their status as tax-exempt charities and tackled politics from the pulpit: “About 1,600 pastors across the country violated a 58-year-old ban on political endorsements by churches in October by explicitly backing political candidates in their Sunday sermons, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom of Scottsdale, Ariz., a conservative Christian legal organization behind a campaign called Pulpit Freedom Sunday” (NBC News).

Turtle Bay and Beyond: On wednesday, 30 January, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg held a hearing in a case concerning the right of churches to choose employees based on religious affiliation.

Religion Clause Blog: As previously reported, a New York federal district court earlier this month refused to issue a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the New York City Health Department’s rule requiring that a mohel(Jewish ritual circumciser) obtain a written informed consent form from parents before he performs a circumcision using the oral suction technique (metzitzah b’peh).

AP: A lawsuit by a Southern California Christian school against two former teachers who refused to provide proof of their faith could pose one of the first court tests of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on religious freedom.

Bangor Daily News: The church is represented by attorney Joel Oster from the Alliance Defending Freedom organization of Leawood, Kan. Oster said Monday that the church is pleased with the outcome but will need to do its due diligence to see if it can form the nonprofit charitable organization to allow for the land to be exempt.

Jordan Lorence at National Review: Call the ACLU and Barry Lynn right now! Some religious fanatic is urging Congress to enact laws imposing his narrow biblical morality on the rest of us. Doesn’t he know we have an Establishment Clause protecting us from such crassfundamentalism? This Taliban-like pastor, probably poised to use tactics vaguely reminiscent of the Inquisition, is the Reverend Gary Hall, the dean of the Washington National Cathedral, and a leader in the Episcopal Church.

Religion Clause Blog: In Ballaban v. Bloomington Jewish Community (IN App., Jan. 17, 2013), a 3-judge Indiana appellate court, with each judge writing a separate opinion, rejected a rabbi’s claim that he had been wrongfully dismissed as congregational rabbi before the end of his 3-year contract.

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement: This lawsuit is really about two things. First, it is about generating publicity for Freedom From Religion Foundation. A quick lawsuit, even if it gets dismissed at a later point, can earn some headlines. But secondly, this lawsuit is about fostering FFRF’s radical agenda. FFRF, a group of radical separationist atheists, envisions a future where the tax code is used against churches and pastors to punish them for speaking out on issues of candidates and elections.

Edwin Ekene at allAfrica.com: Actually, it was a debate between Erik Stanley, the head of the Pulpit Initiative for Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys in the United States, and Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the Executive Director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. The title of the debate, which was published in the Los Angeles Times of September 23, 2008, was, “Why Don’t Churches Pay Taxes?”

God Discussion: At Alliance Defending Freedom, we see the dark legal clouds gathering across our nation, threatening your religious freedom. That’s why we created SpeakUpFreedom.org. . .

Erik Stanley at LifeNews: Well, ninety days have come and gone since over 1,500 pastors participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday on October 7,2012. And the IRS has not taken any action against any of the pastors who participated. Actually, the title of this blog post could have been “Four years and Counting” because Alliance Defending Freedom first launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008.

NY Post: Mark Krolikowski claims he was branded as “worse than gay” and relieved of his responsibilities after he admitted to school officials two years ago that he was transgender, according to a new lawsuit.

LifeSiteNews: A Montreal prosecutor told a Quebec court recently that holding a religious ceremony in a building not zoned as a place of worship, even if it is a private home, is illegal.

One News Now: The Texas Supreme Court will decide the ownership of 52 Fort Worth-area church properties valued at more than $100 million after a split in the Episcopal Church between conservative and liberal factions.

Religion Clause Blog: In Big Sky Colony, Inc. v. Montana Department of Labor and Industry, (MT Sup. Ct., Dec. 31, 2012), the Montana Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision upheld against constitutional attack amendments to the state’s workers compensation law that brings Hutterite Colonies within the definition of those covered when their members perform agricultural, manufacturing or construction services even though members do not receive wages. Instead Hutterites receive food, shelter, clothing and medical care from the Colony.

JTA.org: A building housing a synagogue and Jewish day school in Worcester, a city in central Massachusetts, has been seized by the Internal Revenue Service.

Religion Clause Blog (links to docs): This month, two separate lawsuits were filed claiming that the Internal Revenue Service unconstitutionally favors religious organizations and churches over other non-profit organizations.

Mercury News: “Since 1954 and the Johnson Amendment, the IRS has set itself up as the pulpit police,” said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for Alliance, which has about 2,200 lawyers assisting with the initiative. Stanley said his group supports the free-speech rights of pastors on both sides of the political aisle. “Pulpit Freedom Sunday is really all about protecting a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit and not be intimidated or censored by the government for doing so,” he said. His group at some point wants to generate a “test case” in hopes of having the Johnson Amendment declared unconstitutional. Alliance may indeed have a case.

The Independent: The Vatican has received a generous early Christmas present from European Union chiefs with the announcement that illegal tax exemption from 2006 to 2011, which saved the Catholic Church billions of euros, will not have to be paid back.

Christian Institute: More than 50 MPs say a Plymouth Brethren group is being “singled out” for unfair treatment by the Charity Commission in a long running case about charitable status. The Commission has refused to register the group because its Holy Communion services are for members only.

Volokh Conspiracy:  There’s a petition so urging (with 30,000 signatures); there’s another petition asking that the church be “[l]egally recognize[d] … as a hate group” and subject to “some form of imposed regulation.” Is such stripping of a tax exemption based on the group’s “hate” viewpoint, or other similar “regulation,” constitutional?

Religion Clause Blog: In Weiter v. Kurtz, (KY App., Dec. 14, 2012), the Court of Appeals of Kentucky dismissed a wrongful discharge claim against the Archdiocese of Louisville and other defendants by Margie Weiter, a former bookkeeper-receptionist who was fired from her position at a Louisville parish after she insisted on complaining to her supervisor and Archdiocese personnel that James Schook, a priest accused of child molestation, was being allowed to live at the parish.

Christian Civic League Faith Matters in Maine: Protect and prepare for any conflict that same sex marriage will bring to your church. Click here for part 2 of a two part “Faith Matters in Maine” interview with Joel Oster, senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. Listen to Faith Matters in Maine with Carroll Conley, Jr. and Bob Emrich every Monday at 6:15 pm (WHCF 88.5, Hodgdon/Houlton 93.7, and Presque Isle 102.7)

Religion Clause Blog (links to the report and more): The Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations this week issued its first report to Sen. Charles Grassley.

Cafardi, Nicholas P., Saving the Preachers: The Tax Code’s Prohibition on Church Electioneering (2012). Duquesne University Law Review, Vol. 50, p. 503, 2012; Duquesne University School of Law Research Paper No. 2012-16. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2181557

Courthouse News Service: A Michigan church that subpoenaed several anonymous email accounts after LGBT-rights activists interrupted its services should not face a sanction, the 9th Circuit ruled Monday.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley will be available for media interviews following his oral argument Tuesday at the Arizona Court of Appeals in defense of a church facing an illegally assessed property tax bill that would force it to shut down.

David Skeel at the Wall Street Journal: Consider it a refreshing postelection case of strange bedfellows. For four years, a Christian group called the Alliance Defending Freedom has tried to get courts to review a law that prohibits churches from electioneering. The alliance’s strategy was to goad the IRS into enforcing the law, but the IRS wouldn’t bite. Last week, however, a secular group called the Freedom From Religion Foundation may have forced the IRS’s hand by suing it for this same failure to enforce.

Press Enterprise: The movement, called Pulpit Freedom Sunday and organized by the Arizona-based Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, encourages pastors to “preach a biblically based sermon regarding candidates and the election without fearing that the IRS will investigate or punish the church,” according to the group’s website.

Newsmax: The Pulpit Freedom Sunday movement, organized by an Arizona-based Christian legal group called Alliance Defending Freedom, was designed in support of an alliance court challenge to a section of the IRS tax code regulating political activities on the part of churches and religious groups that are granted tax-exempt status.

The Guardian: So, when the IRS sits on its hands while Illinois Bishop Daniel Jenky commands all the priests in his diocese to read an anti-Obama letter at mass; when the IRS pretends not to be interested while Billy Graham runs full-page ads in national newspapers on the eve of the election whose message is a transparent endorsement of Mitt Romney; when the IRS has nothing to say about the fact that on 7 October, at least 1,000 pastors participated in “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” by explicitly endorsing political candidates from their pulpits – we can only suppose that the IRS has decided to ignore its own code.

NBC Bay Area: The movement, called Pulpit Freedom Sunday and organized by the Arizona-based Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, encourages pastors to “preach a biblically based sermon regarding candidates and the election without fearing that the IRS will investigate or punish the church,” according to the group’s website.

AllGov.com: In its civil complaint, the Freedom From Religion Foundation claims the IRS is failing to collect $100 billion a year by permitting churches to maintain tax-exempt status, even though many are violating rules that prohibit tax-exempt entities from engaging in electioneering speech.

The UK Law and Religion Blog reports on the ruling.

The Catholic Child Welfare Society and Others v. The
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, [2012] UKSC 56 (Nov. 21, 2012)

This is not a borderline case. It is one where it is fair, just and reasonable,
by reason of the satisfaction of the relevant criteria, for the Institute to share with
the Middlesbrough Defendants vicarious liability for the abuse committed by the
brothers. I would allow this appeal.

California Family Council: Black Protestants, according to Pew, are twice as likely as churchgoers overall to hear about candidates at church. Among regular churchgoers, four-in-10 (40 percent) black Protestants say their clergy have spoken directly about the candidates, compared with 17 percent of white Catholics, 12 percent of white evangelicals and just 5 percent of white mainline Protestants.

Everyday Christian: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) started Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008 to challenge the 1954 Johnson Amendment that prohibits tax-exempt churches from making political endorsements. ADF hoped the IRS would take action so that a lawsuit could be filed that would repeal the law. “It’s outrageous for pastors and churches to be threatened or punished by the government for applying biblical teachings to all areas of life, including candidates and elections,” ADF legal counsel Erik Stanley told Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link last month. He added that the purpose of the October event was “to make sure that the pastor, and not the IRS, decides what is said from the pulpit.”

World: “It’s outrageous for pastors and churches to be threatened or punished by the government for applying biblical teachings to all areas of life, including candidates and elections,” ADF legal counsel Erik Stanley told Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link last month. He added that the purpose of the October event was “to make sure that the pastor, and not the IRS, decides what is said from the pulpit.”

Nick Vadala at The Philly Post: Headed up by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian group out of Arizona, the stunt essentially makes a mockery out of the IRS’s code enforcement. Most endorsements, unsurprisingly, go to Romney or Republicans generally, but that’s beside the point. Endorsement on either side is simply against the law . . . Erik Stanley of the ADF told the Washington Times that the FFRF’s lawsuit “borders on frivolous” and that it probably will go nowhere in court. There’s also very little chance that the FFRF will be able to prove they’ve been done damage by the IRS’s un-enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. But even if they could, as much as I hate to say it, he’s right about the lawsuit missing the mark . . . All I hear when pastors endorse Romney (or Obama, or Jill Stein, or whoever) is “charge us, we would like to contribute to the society that pays our way.” Let the ADF think they’re freedom fighters for the religious set; it’ll cost them eventually.

Tennessean: The preachers and their allies at Alliance Defending Freedom, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based Christian legal group, say the ban is unconstitutional. More than 1,000 preachers nationwide endorsed candidates in this year’s Pulpit Freedom Sunday, in hopes of prompting IRS investigations. So far the IRS has not responded. Now those preachers may have their day in court, with help from an unlikely source – the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

God Discussion Blog: For the past few years, religious right groups have been encouraging pastors to endorse candidates and political matters from the pulpit during “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.” The effort has been spearheaded by the Christian advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly known as the Alliance Defense Fund) and actively promoted by groups such as Liberty Counsel. At least 1,500 pastors reportedly participated in “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” this year, on October 7.