I’m at a loss to describe this.
Unitarian Universalists have for decades presided over births, marriages and memorials. The church operates in every state, with more than 5,000 members in Texas alone.
But according to the office of Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Denison Unitarian church isn’t really a religious organization — at least for tax purposes. Its reasoning: the organization “does not have one system of belief.”
Never before — not in this state or any other — has a government agency denied Unitarians tax-exempt status because of the group’s religious philosophy, church officials say. Strayhorn’s ruling clearly infringes upon religious liberties, said Dan Althoff, board president for the Denison congregation that was rejected for tax exemption by the comptroller’s office.
“I was surprised — surprised and shocked — because the Unitarian church in the United States has a very long history,” said Althoff, who notes that father-and-son presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams were both Unitarians.
His church is just one of several Unitarian congregations in North Texas, including churches in Fort Worth, Arlington and Southlake.
Strayhorn’s ruling, as well as a similar decision by former Comptroller John Sharp, has left the comptroller’s office straddling a sometimes murky gulf separating church and state.
What constitutes religion? When and how should government make that determination? Questions that for years have vexed the world’s great philosophers have now become the province of the state comptroller’s office.
Questions about the issue were referred to Jesse Ancira, the comptroller’s top lawyer, who said Strayhorn has applied a consistent standard — and then stuck to it. For any organization to qualify as a religion, members must have “simply a belief in God, or gods, or a higher power,” he said.
“We have got to apply a test, and use some objective standards,” Ancira said. “We’re not using the test to deny the exemptions for a particular group because we like them or don’t like them.”
The courts have ruled against this “test”, and I must say I’m a little disappointed with John Sharp for creating it. That was bad enough, but Strayhorn is vowing to keep fighting it, for reasons unclear to me. Doesn’t she have better things to do, like throw rocks at Governor Perry?
Via Julia, whose news aggregator is clearly mightier than mine.
UU is Not a Religion
Or, so says the State of Texas. Sorry w0zz. Via Eschaton. Unitarian Universalists have for decades presided over births, marriages and memorials. The church operates in every state, with more than 5,000 members in Texas alone. But according to the…
Texas’ taxes.
I’ll push pause on the multiple projects that have crowded out all thoughts of blogging this week to put in my two cents on a story a bunch of you have called to my attention: According to the Fort Worth…
i have a long standing belief that certain views should not be met with reasoned debate, because it won’t work and is not satisfying.
Strayhorn is a poopy-head.
there, i feel better now.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Insane. The entire neo-con movement is sliding inevitably towards madness, and this is simply exhibit #70523.
I mean, the Unitarians? What did they ever do to anyone???
And not that it shouldn’t be bleedin’ obvious, but Comptroller Strayhorn is…
As a Texan, I am offended by the earlier references to me and my fellows as imbiciles. Like every subset of humans, we are burdened with our defectives, however. I can say that I did not support this one for public office.
I think UU is a valuable organization and deserves at least as much of a tax exemption as some political action committee.
Maybe that’s the answer here. The Texas UU should take about 10% of what they would pay in taxes and donate it to the Republican Party of Texas. They’ll have their exemption then, no doubt.
There should be no way Queen of Hearts Comptroller Straydog wins this suit, except that, now that we live in Bushworld, and likely will until the next Civil War, courts are trending more toward calling black, white. We who believe in separation of Church and State should be encouraged by the 7 to 2 decision in the Joshua Davey suit inwhich religious political extremists like the Texas Comptroller were told that states should not be forced to fund religious training. However, that case has little relevance to this one which the Court could easily decide to reject. Let’s hope not though, since religious bigots, such as Strayhorn, are a hard headed and determined lot.
I very much believe in God/Allah/Jah, and in Yahshuah or Jesus or Issa or however you want to refer to him as. I really dont need Judge Strayhorn’s or the State of Texas’ seal of approval however.
I live in Georgia, another hotbed of racism and capitalistic greed hypocritically masquerading itself as Christianity.
Personally I don’t think that religion should even be a category considered by the state for tax-exemption purposes.
There are many in the U.S. who would like to force us all to live in a state such as that described in Margaret Atwood’s “A Handmaid’s Tale”.
Not having been to Texas myself, I can’t comment on the UU controversary. But I DO know about small, right-wing ( & I tend to be conservative myself esp. as I age-curse of age?), biggoted, opinionated, cheap, miserly, generally nasty people here in S.C. Pa. I’ve lived here for over 30 yrs. & they never cease to amaze me. We have a UU church & I’ve considered going to services to see if it meets “my” beliefs in a Supreme Being. I only hope the State of Pa.(Land of Taxes) doesn’t hear of Texas’ latest hairbrained idea or they will certainly apply it A.S.A.P. We are already running out of Dr.s with the high rate of insurance. Now I guess we will run the churches out too. But that’s O.K. for me: “Love it or Leave it, M***** F******.” Well, in 5 yrs. I’m leaving it. “We done left!”
The Victoria Advocate, Tuesday, May 25th, 2004:
this debate has defined unitarianism more clearly than i have seen recently.
Frankly, I think too many people aply for tax exempt status. People are running a business and use tax exemption as a way of squeezing a few extra pennies from it. So many people look at the government as something to beaten. I’m afraid one day a collapse will come and then we’ll all be ringing our hands wishing for the “good old days” only then the “good old days” will really be the “good old days” and not some romantic figmant of an old timers mind.