Baptist entities defend housing allowance

WASHINGTON — 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 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.

In October federal Judge Barbara Crabb of Wisconsin ruled the allowance is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment clause that prohibits a government establishment of religion. It is the second time in four years Crabb ruled against the allowance.

The Seventh Circuit Court, which overruled Crabb’s original opinion in 2014, will decide on a section of a 1954 law that permits “ministers of the gospel” to exclude for federal income tax purposes a portion or all of their gross income as a housing allowance. The lawsuit does not affect the part of the law that enables tax-free use of a parsonage or other home owned by a church or other religious body. (BP)