First Church of Cannabis receives I.R.S. approval

According to the Indianapolis Star, the First Church of Cannabis has received approval as a 501(c)(3) organization. This raises a few thoughts.

Seventh Circuit holds challengers to parsonage exemption lack standing

The Seventh Circuit unanimously rejected a challenge to the parsonage exemption brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, concluding that the Wisconsin-based, nontheistic group lacked the legal ability to challenge the statutory exception granted to “minister[s] of the gospel.” Because the Seventh Circuit concluded the plaintiffs did not have standing, it did not reach the question of whether the parsonage exemption runs afoul of the First Amendment. The opinion reverses a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin that held the provision unconstitutional as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. (You can listen to the very interesting oral argument here.*) 

What Hobby Lobby Says and What That Means for Religious Organizations

© Wikimedia Commons user CyberXRef

Today the United States Supreme Court held on a 5–4 vote that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) prohibits the federal government from forcing a closely held corporation to provide contraception to which the company’s owners object based on their sincerely held religious beliefs. This will likely mean that the Obama administration will extend the accommodations made to religious nonprofits under the Affordable Care Act (A.C.A.) will also apply to closely held corporations that have religious objections to some or all types of contraception. While the decision did not involve religious organizations, they can take this decision as providing more room to use nontraditional structures for purposes churches don’t typically pursue.

Sotomayor Rings in New Year with Obamacare Stay: What Religious Groups Should Know

Justice Sonia Sotomayor made sure she was part of the number one story to start off 2014. In case anyone doubted leading New York City’s countdown to 2014 in Times Square would put Sotomayor on the front page, a few hours before midnight she temporarily blocked the federal government from requiring certain religiously affiliated organizations to provide insurance coverage that includes birth control.