Church Can Work With County to Provide Affordable Housing
Just before Christmas, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a claim that Arlington County Virginia violated the Establishment Clause when it worked with a church to develop a building that...
View ArticleDo We Have Enough Religion?
A recent Gallup Poll concludes that most in America are satisfied with the current state of religion’s influence in society. This wouldn’t be a big deal if we were trending toward higher moral values...
View ArticleNo April Fool’s Day for Religious Freedom
April 1 wasn’t a Fool’s Day for religious freedom in Kentucky. In Nelson v. Baker, the Court of Appeals soundly rejected a claim by former members of First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown, Kentucky...
View ArticleGiving Churches the Business
If you’ve ever watched “Leave it to Beaver” re-reruns, you know that Beaver, the young star of the show, was always getting hassled by his older brother’s friend, Eddie Haskell. Eddie was the...
View ArticleTop Legal Issues That Concern Churches – Issue #2 Property Taxes
This is the second installment in a series of blogs about the legal issues we at ADF are most often asked to assist pastors and churches with. They are listed in order of importance, with number one...
View ArticleTop Legal Issues That Concern Churches – Issue #5 Employment...
This bill is currently pending before Congress and could have a detrimental effect on the ability of churches to only hire individuals that agree with their religious beliefs and live their lives...
View ArticleAppeals Court Rules for Religious Freedom
I’ve reported several times on a case in Maryland where a nurse at a Catholic nursing home sued her employer because it required her to dress in a way that conforms to Catholic teaching. Last...
View ArticleBishop Warns Of Government Assault On Religious Freedom
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is rightly concerned that religious freedom as we’ve known it in this country for hundreds of years is increasingly under assault – by our own...
View ArticleUSAToday Column Proposes Cleansing Politics of Religion
A recent column in USAToday titled “5 rules for faith and politics 2012” proposes rules the authors say would avoid both theocracy and hostility toward religion. But all they succeed in doing is...
View ArticleTop Legal Issues That Concern Churches – Issue #9 Housing Allowance
The long standing tax provision that permits churches to provide pastors with a non-taxable housing allowance was recently challenged in the case Freedom from Religion Foundation v. Geitner in a...
View Article86% Of Pastors Do Not Want The IRS To Review Their Sermons
Some time ago, I pondered the question, “Do 84% of Pastors believe the Pulpit Initiative is a bad idea?” The reflection was due to a survey conducted in 2011 of 1,000 protestant pastors by Lifeway...
View ArticleCommon Objections to Pulpit Freedom Sunday: Pastors and Politics
Every time I mention Pulpit Freedom Sunday, I generally get two basic objections to the concept of Pulpit Freedom. Yet these objections in some way are either misguided or just flat out wrong. I’ll...
View ArticleCommon Objections to Pulpit Freedom Sunday: Tax Exempt Status
When talking about Pulpit Freedom Sunday, I generally get two basic objections to the concept of Pulpit Freedom. Yet these objections in some way are either misguided or just flat out wrong. I’ll...
View ArticleElections Have Consequences
Proverbs 29:2 says: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” When the Israelites were sent into exile in Babylon, God told them,...
View ArticleIn Their Own Words: The Consequence of Losing a Minister’s Housing Allowance
Recently, a federal judge in Wisconsin declared unconstitutional the minister’s housing allowance that has been in the tax code for well over 100 years. This decision is on hold while it is appealed,...
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