Stories tagged with: housing allowance

• Bapt. leaders thankful housing allowance challenge ends for now

  by Tom Strode and Roy Hayhurst, posted Wednesday, June 19, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

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  DALLAS (BP) -- The legal challenge to the constitutionality of the ministerial housing allowance is over -- for now.

  The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) announced June 14 it would not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court its March judicial loss, thus concluding its latest effort to gain nullification of the allowance that is part of a 65-year-old federal law. The FFRF was not confident of its chances of winning its appeal given the current make-up of the high court, according to its news release. Read More

• Baptist leaders praise housing allowance ruling

  by Tom Strode and Roy Hayhurst, posted Monday, March 18, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  iStock photo

  CHICAGO (BP) -- Southern Baptist entity leaders applauded a federal appeals court decision March 15 upholding the constitutionality of the ministerial housing allowance.

  A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled unanimously the long-standing clergy allowance does not violate the First Amendment clause that prohibits government establishment of religion. The decision reversed a federal judge's 2017 opinion that invalidated the allowance as a violation of the establishment clause. Read More

• Housing allowance defended in appeals court

  by Roy Hayhurst and Tom Strode, posted Thursday, October 25, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

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  CHICAGO (BP) -- Lawyers for both the U.S. Justice Department and a religious freedom organization defended the constitutionality of the ministerial housing allowance Wednesday (Oct. 24) before a federal appeals court.

  A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago heard oral arguments regarding a 2017 opinion that invalidated the allowance as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment clause that prohibits government establishment of religion. The Trump administration and Becket Fund for ... Read More

• GuideStone, ERLC defend ministerial housing allowance

  by Tom Strode, posted Monday, April 30, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

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  WASHINGTON (BP) -- Two Southern Baptist entities have urged a federal appeals court to uphold the constitutionality of the ministerial housing allowance.

  GuideStone Financial Resources and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief filed April 26 that asks the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to reverse a lower court decision invalidating the exemption. Read More

• Housing allowance order stayed for now; appeals likely

  by Roy Hayhurst, posted Monday, December 18, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

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  DALLAS (BP) -- A federal district court judge in Wisconsin, as expected, has entered a final order declaring the minister's housing allowance unconstitutional. The Dec. 13 order, however, has been stayed for 180 days after all appeals are exhausted, meaning it currently does not have any impact.

  Observers expect the government to appeal the order by Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin, who issued her ruling on Oct. 6 following a 2013 ruling she issued that was overturned. Read More

• Housing allowance defense joined by ERLC & GuideStone

  by Tom Strode, posted Wednesday, October 11, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

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  NASHVILLE (BP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention's religious freedom entity will maintain its effort to preserve the ministerial housing allowance because pastors are crucial "for flourishing, vibrant communities," Russell Moore said Tuesday (Oct. 10).

  The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) stands alongside GuideStone Financial Resources -- the SBC's health and financial benefits entity -- in opposing an Oct. 6 federal court decision that invalidated the housing allowance, said Moore, the ERLC's president. In the opinion, Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin ruled the allowance an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment clause that prohibits a government establishment of religion -- the second time she has done so in four years. Read More

• Clergy housing allowance struck down again

  by David Roach, posted Monday, October 09, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

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  MADISON, Wisc. (BP) -- For the second time, a federal judge has ruled the U.S. tax code's ministerial housing allowance is unconstitutional.

  Mississippi College law professor Matt Steffey told Baptist Press the ruling, unlike U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb's previous attempt to strike down the housing allowance, could be upheld on appeal to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Mississippi College is affiliated with the Mississippi Baptist Convention.

  The judge appears "bound by existing law to decide the case this way," Steffey ... Read More

• Housing allowance survives at appeals court

  by Tom Strode, posted Thursday, November 13, 2014 (9 years ago)

  "This is indeed good news for ministers." -- O.S. Hawkins

  CHICAGO (BP) -- A federal appeals court has overturned a decision striking down the 60-year-old ministerial housing allowance in an action cheered by Southern Baptist leaders.

  The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled today (Nov. 13) that an atheist organization lacked the legal right -- known as "standing" -- to challenge the portion of a 1954 law that permits clergy to exclude for federal income tax purposes a portion or all of their gross income as a housing allowance. Read More