By Tom Strode, Baptist Press WASHINGTON (BP) -- The constitutionality of legislative prayer gained reaffirmation Oct. 11 when a federal court dismissed an atheist's challenge of the U.S. House of Representatives' right to bar him from delivering an invocation. Federal Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia said U.S. Supreme Court precedent undergirds the long tradition of prayer to open congressional sessions and the House's rules in carrying out the practice. Collyer's support for legislative prayer in Congress came three months after a federal appeals court invalidated the practice in a North Carolina county. U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Benton) was among those applauding the decision. “As an attorney who defended legislative prayer for many years prior to being elected to Congress, I am thankful for the court’s decision invalidating this latest atheist challenge to our cherished tradition,” said Johnson, a member of First Baptist Church in Bossier City. “As the Supreme Court has acknowledged many times, 'we are a religious people, whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.' I look forward to continuing to start our work in Congress each day as our founders did, with a prayer to God.” Speaker of the … [Read more...]

By Roy Hayhurst, GuideStone Financial Resources DALLAS, Texas – A federal district court judge ruled Oct. 6 that the minister’s housing allowance, which allows churches to designate part of eligible ministers’ income as a tax-free housing allowance, is unconstitutional. The judge in the case — Barbara Crabb, an appointee from President Jimmy Carter’s administration — made the same ruling in 2013. That ruling was overturned in 2014 by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Both the 2013 case and this year’s case were brought by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). In 2014, the case was dismissed by the circuit court of appeals because the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the case. “We have monitored this case and its predecessor cases closely and will seek as part of a long-standing coalition of ministerial benefit boards to file a friend-of-court brief on appeal at the appropriate time,” said GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins. “The housing allowance, far from being a government endorsement of religion, as Judge Crabb contends, actually removes government from the equation. Were it not for the housing allowance, the government would be imposing a tax on religious employers and … [Read more...]