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- Title
HOW MIGHT A CHURCH'S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS (AND OTHER ADVANTAGES) BE REVOKED PROCEDURALLY FOR OPPOSITION TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE OR BE DEFENDED POSSIBLY AS FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION?
- Authors
DOROCAK, JOHN R.
- Abstract
After the Supreme Court cases in United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges were decided, some have suggested that there is an established national policy in favor of same-sex marriage. Therefore, the tax-exempt status of a church opposed to same-sex marriage could now be revoked similar to the revocation of the taxexempt status in Bob Jones University for a university's opposition to an established national policy against racial discrimination in education. Although the situation of churches such as the Catholic Church is somewhat similar to Bob Jones University, it may be unlikely that the tax-exempt status of churches will be revoked for opposition to same-sex marriage. Likely the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would need to initiate such a revocation and the IRS has refrained recently from examination of churches. Even if there were an attempt to revoke the tax-exempt status of an organization for opposition to same-sex marriage, such an organization might be able to raise the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) or the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to assert an exemption from an established national policy or from a uniform application of a neutral law in favor of same-sex marriage. Therefore, in the private sphere, there still may exist the right to be a fool or the right to be let alone.
- Subjects
UNITED States; CHURCH; TAX exemption; SAME-sex marriage; FREEDOM of religion; UNITED States v. Windsor; OBERGEFELL v. Hodges; RELIGIOUS Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (U.S.)
- Publication
Willamette Law Review, 2017, Vol 53, Issue 2, p161
- ISSN
0191-9822
- Publication type
Article