[CS-FSLUG] OT: DOJ: Feds Can Tell Church Who Its Ministers Will Be

[Ed Hurst]

On Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:15:58 -0500, Fred A. Miller <fmiller at lightlink.com>  
wrote:


"Justice Department asked the Supreme Court last week to give the federal  
government the power to tell a church who its ministers will be."

I've worked with the LC-MS a bit. The very idea someone working with them  
would sue for a job is hard to imagine, simply on the basis of the  
unavoidable hard feelings. But, this is what comes with government  
approved incorporation. A tax break implies handing to the government a  
certain amount of power to intervene. We try to act like that's not so,  
that we can shield the churches, making it a one-way relationship as some  
of our founding fathers claimed, but that was actually a novel idea in  
their own times. For most of Christian history, it was either on or off,  
but government recognition has always meant government regulation. I hope  
the church wins this round, but it will hardly be the last time we see it.

-- 
Ed Hurst
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