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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

CULTURAL NEWS: Housing allowance for pastors upheld

By Will Hall, Message Editor The ministerial housing allowance allowed by the IRS has been upheld by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago after being struck down for the second time by the same federal jurist for the Western District of Wisconsin. U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb, appointed in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter, had ruled in 2017 and before that in 2013, that the housing allowance was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. In the first case, the 7th Circuit Court ruled that the Freedom from Religion Foundation, an atheist group which brought the suit, did not have standing because they could not show harm from the benefit being extended to clergy. But the court did not rule on the constitutionality of the housing allowance. This time, FFRF executives applied for the housing allowance and were denied the benefit that permits “ministers of the gospel” to deduct housing-related expenses from their taxable income when filing with the IRS. But a three-judge panel, all Republican appointees, was not sympathetic to the FRFF’s claim that the Internal Revenue Code 107(2) tax break for religious leaders effectively “renders unto God that which … [Read more...]

CULTURAL NEWS: Wisconsin voters reject attacks on Christian Supreme Court candidate

By Will Hall, Message Editor In a stunning upset victory, a Christian candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court won his election despite being outspent and vilified in the media as a “bigot” because of his religious convictions, which include support for traditional marriage, National Review reported. Conservative Brian Hagedorn still faces a recount because of his narrow 6,000-vote victory among 1.2 million votes cast, but experts say statistically it is unlikely the election will be overturned barring any major error in reporting by precincts. Just a year ago his liberal opponent, Lisa Neubauer, led by 12 percentage points and appeared unstoppable. But she and outside liberal groups viciously attacked Hagedorn for his Christian beliefs, with the help of the secular media, accusing him of supporting hate groups because he founded a Christian school and spoke to Christian and conservative groups that support traditional marriage. But voters apparently rejected the anti-Christian bigotry at the grass roots level in the state which ranks in the bottom half of states in terms of church attendance by the population. By state law Neubauer can still request and pay for a recount because the vote margin was less than one … [Read more...]

CULTURAL NEWS: Christian leaders oppose ‘Equality Act’ as unfair

By Will Hall, Message Editor ALEXANDRIA (LBM) ­­‑ Congress is considering legislation known as the Equality Act that Christian leaders say contains provisions which would marginalize the religious rights of people of faith in favor of those who identify as LGBT. Filed as H.R. 5, the bill would force business owners such as bakers and florists in the wedding industry to provide services that celebrate gay marriage, they said. Likewise, Christian hospitals would be mandated to perform sex reassignment surgery, and religious schools would have to abandon conduct codes and hiring standards that support their spiritual missions. Meanwhile, women athletes would have to compete against biological men who wish to identify as females. The bill would even regulate what pronouns have to be used when addressing someone who does not want to be identified with his or her biological sex. Importantly, parents could be compelled to allow children to undergo sex reassignments or face losing custody rights. In a letter, a coalition of 84 religious leaders urged Democrat and Republican leaders of the House Committee on the Judiciary to oppose the bill. The group assured the lawmakers that “people of faith … believe that all people … [Read more...]