Does the US Constitution specifically forbid exempting Churches from Taxes?

[Shermana]

In a spinoff from another thread, let's look at what the US constitution specifically says:

Congress shall make NO LAW respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Is a law which enables a church to be exempt from taxes in essence respecting its establishment? If not, why not? What does "respecting an establishment" mean exactly, and does it apply to churches being given tax-exempt status?

Is the same law which makes them tax exempt but requires them to keep a lid on political matters which are of concern to their religion also "prohibiting the free exercise thereof"? Is it only talking about rituals or is it also talking about discussion of concerns of the day that are of affect to them?

 

[LuisDantas]

Personally, I don't see how free exercise of religion can be reconciled with the avoidance of political matters. While the mix of religion and politics can often be troubling, it is also natural and even unavoidable.

 

[Skwim]

In a spinoff from another thread, let's look at what the US constitution specifically says:

Congress shall make NO LAW respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
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Is a law which enables a church to be exempt from taxes in essence respecting its establishment? If not, why not? What does "respecting an establishment" mean exactly, and does it apply to churches being given tax-exempt status?

Is the same law which makes them tax exempt but requires them to keep a lid on political matters which are of concern to their religion also "prohibiting the free exercise thereof"? Is it only talking about rituals or is it also talking about discussion of concerns of the day that are of affect to them?

In as much as these questions deal with the interpretation of law, and as far as I know no one on RF is qualified to interpret constitutional law, I believe all you're going to get is informed (if you're lucky) opinions. So, unless you're more interested in opinions than good information I wouldn't pursue the issue.

That said, FWIW here is a short excerpt I plucked from Wikipedia.

The Establishment Clause is the first of several pronouncements in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, stating,

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. . . .

The Establishment Clause is immediately followed by the Free Exercise Clause, which states, "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". These two clauses make up what are called the "Religion Clauses" of the First Amendment.

The Establishment Clause has generally been interpreted to prohibit 1) the establishment of a national religion by Congress, or 2) the preference by the U.S. government of one religion over another. The first approach is called the "separation" or "no aid" interpretation, while the second approach is called the "non-preferential" or "accommodation" interpretation. The accommodation interpretation prohibits Congress from preferring one religion over another, but does not prohibit the government's entry into religious domain to make accommodations in order to achieve the purposes of the Free Exercise Clause.

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