We Now Know the Meaning of 'Religious Enough'
The Supreme Court was right in concluding Wisconsin erred in saying Catholic Charities’ activities shouldn't qualify for a tax exemption.
The name says it all.
Photographer: Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Back in 1959, the chief administrative officer of the United Presbyterian Church warned that churches wielded too much “economic power” due to their tax-exempt status. Unless religious groups were taxed like everyone else, the nation might soon face “revolutionary expropriations of church property.”
Well, the revolution hasn’t yet come for the churches. But regulatory creep has nevertheless nibbled at the margins of religious freedom, with states finding one activity or another to deem not truly religious and therefore subject to tax.