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Church Tax Exemption: An Explainer
It seems like every time there’s a church scandal—and especially one that concerns money—people start arguing that the scandal-ridden church (or even churches in general) should lose their tax...
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On Amicusing Religious Freedom
Over that last decade, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been party to at least 15 Supreme Court amicus briefs.[fn1] (How do I know? I searched Westlaw’s Supreme Court briefs...
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Tax Day 2023!
As I was searching, trying to find an appropriate Tax Day 2023 topic to post on (not as easy as you’d think when you’ve been doing this for a while), I came across Fidelity Charitable‘s annual Giving...
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Ainda Não Havia Para Mim, Rita Lee
It’s been long enough that I don’t remember their names. I don’t remember who I was with. I don’t remember which area it was (I think it was my second, in São José dos Campos, but I’m not sure...
View ArticleThe Significant Moral Consequences of Trump
Next year will mark the 70th anniversary of the so-called Johnson Amendment, the provision in section 501(c)(3) that prohibits tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or opposing candidates for...
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60 Minutes, David Nielson, and Ensign Peak Advisors
Sunday night, 60 Minutes aired a 13-minute segment on Ensign Peak Advisors. And honestly, if you’ve been following the story closely (I have!), there’s not a lot of new information here. But not a lot...
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What to Do About Ensign Peak Advisors
In my last post, I wrote about the 60 Minutes segment on Ensign Peak Advisors. As part of that segment, the interviewer asks Bishop Waddell, “But don’t you agree this would be a nonissue if there were...
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The New Political Neutrality Policy…
… is mostly pretty similar to the old political neutrality policy. Maybe you heard that on Thursday, the church dropped a revised political neutrality statement. You can find its new statement here. I...
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Patriotism, the U.S. Constitution, and the LDS Church
About a month ago, the Utah Area Presidency sent a memo to all Utah stake presidents, bishops, and branch presidents. In that memo, the Area Presidency informs them that the Utah legislature...
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How to Address Right-Wing Extremism Among LDS Members
Yesterday, the FBI shot and killed Craig Robertson at his Provo home while attempting to serve a search warrant. Based on media reports, Robertson appears to have been an active member of the Church...
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A (Slightly) Belated Update on the James Huntsman Suit
Almost two years ago I wrote about a federal district court dismissing James Huntsman’s lawsuit against the church. The wheels of the judiciary turn slowly, but earlier this month, we had an update to...
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Racial Diversity, the Supreme Court, and BYU
Chicago Public Schools are made up of four types of schools: neighborhood schools, magnet schools, classical schools, and gifted schools. Neighborhood schools are exactly what they sound like: if you...
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From the Email-Bag: Polygamy and Tax Exemption
A reader emailed me today and asked if I could blog about a question: “Would the Mormon Church lose its tax-exempt status if it reinstituted polygamy?”[fn1] This is one of the joys of being a law...
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Mormons Don’t Ban Books
I remember a small handful of occasions sitting in sacrament meeting as a teenager and listening to a talk where the speaker mentioned that they had requested that their child be excused from reading...
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Huntsman and En Banc Review
Exactly a month ago, I wrote about James Huntsman’s success at the 9th Circuit. Essentially, the majority of a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit held that there was an open question of fact in the...
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Tearing Racism Out by Its Roots
Yesterday, the Salt Lake Tribune published a story about rampant, and really disgusting, racism in St. George schools. It follows two Black sisters in the schools and the racism they face. And the...
View ArticleGeneral Conference and a Glass Darkly
As I was scrolling through Bluesky this afternoon, I learned that yesterday was World Mental Health Day. And learning that helped my crystalize some thoughts I had about one paragraph of Pres....
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Georgism and the Utah Women’s Press Club
As I was glancing at the New York Times home page today, an article caught my eye: “The ‘Georgists’ Are Out There, and They Want to Tax Your Land.” It should be plain to anybody familiar with my...
View ArticleWomen ̶O̶n̶ Off the Stand
By now, I’d guess most readers of this blog have seen the Salt Lake Tribune story, but in case you haven’t a quick summary: for at least the last decade, some Bay Area wards had members of the ward...
View ArticleFixing TANF (and Utah)
About two years ago, I wrote a post about a ProPublica article that was doing numbers in Mormon circles. In short, ProPublica reported that the state of Utah was counting volunteer hours and...
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