Turning State Against Church: The Meaning of the Coming Fight Over Religious Tax Exemptions

Those who may not be familiar with the law surrounding tax exemptions may not be aware of the true implications of the solicitor general’s statement yesterday that “it’s going to be an issue” whether religious organizations can maintain their tax exemption if they maintain their opposition to gay marriage. Essentially, the solicitor general is alleging that it’s an open question whether such an organization can even be considered “charitable” any longer. An attack on the tax exemption would drop any pretense of neutrality and explicitly turn the state against the church. In other words, our government would behave less like a product of the American Revolution and more like a product of the French Revolution. I break it all down home page today.