Open Atheists Already Collect Tax-Free Clergy Housing Allowances

[rug]

Peter J Reilly
8/26/2013 @ 2:55PM

I recently wrote about the court fight over the “parsonage exclusion” which pits the Freedom From Religion Foundation against the United States. It has taken a strange turn. FFRF, in order to get standing, started paying its atheist officers housing allowance. They have not excluded the allowances, since, in their minds, there is no way they are ministers. The Government is arguing that maybe they do qualify as ministers. This development caught the interest of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability:

“The ongoing litigation over the constitutionality of the clergy housing exclusion has taken a fascinating turn. According to attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice, not only is the law constitutional, but atheists might also be considered religious leaders for purposes of federal tax law ('ministers of the gospel') to qualify for the exclusion."

I wonder if they would be surprised to learn that ministers in a denomination that includes some of the oldest churches in the thirteen original United States are allowed to be openly atheistic along with many of the denomination’s members. The denomination is the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Interview With The Endorser

Reverend Sarah Lammert is the right person to confirm that UU ministers can be atheists. Reverend Lammert is the Director of Ministries and Faith Development for the UUA. She is also the UUA endorser of chaplains for the Armed Forces. I’m sure the process is a little more formal, but in principle the idea is that if somebody want to be an Army chaplain, the Army has to have somebody to call to check their credentials. If its a Catholic priest, they call Archbishop Timothy Broglio. For UU ministers it is up to Reverend Lammert. I don’t imagine an admitted atheist will make it past the Archbishop, but Reverend Lammert could endorse one if otherwise qualified.

The Unitarian Universalist Association

The Unitarian Universalist Association was formed in 1961, but many of its constituent congregations are much older. First Parish in Cambridge Massachusetts, for example, built its first meetinghouse in 1632. In Massachusetts, “First Parish” is a common name for UUA congregations, since they were, in fact, the first parishes and were founded at the same time as their towns. The way you got a new town in those days was when people settled far enough out to have trouble getting to church every Sunday decided they needed another church. The first parish minister who would have fewer tax dollars (or shillings maybe) to pay his salary was not always that enthusiastic about it.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2013/08/26/open-atheists-already-collect-tax-free-clergy-housing-allowances/

[customerserviceguy]

1. Not sure if this is still the case

but as I recall when learning tax law some thirty years ago, a parsonage allowance could be used to make fully deductible mortgage interest and real estate tax payments on a home. It used to be a more-common-than-you'd-think scam to take one's wage income, donate 50% of it to your "church" (where you are the minister), have the "church" pay you a tax-excludable parsonage allowance, which you'd use to pay mortgage interest and taxes. Add in some personal exemptions, and you're legally tax-free, if your "church" holds up.

[cbayer]

2. I grew up in parsonages.

While it is wide open for abuse, imo, it's often a good alternative for a relatively small or poorly funded church.

IIRC, we were just permitted to live in the house for free and the house was owned by the church.