Legal Protections for Religious Groups Grow Quickly

More than 200 special breaks for religious groups have been placed in federal law since 1989, and numerous others have been passed at the state and local levels, says The New York Times.

The protections influence how religious groups operate in numerous ways, including how they compete with secular charities, the newspaper notes, in the first part of a four-part series.

For instance, it says that religious groups do not have to disclose to the public the same kind of information that secular charities do. In addition, some states exempt religious groups from licensing and other requirements.

In addition to legislation, the newspaper says that several court decisions have meant that almost every department and agency of the executive branch now offers special protections for religious groups.

Legislation and court rulings that favor religious groups amount to “a sort of religious affirmative-action program,” John Witte Jr., director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University’s law school told the newspaper.

Some legal scholars, however, say the expansion of breaks for religious groups is necessary. “Regulation imposed burdens on the free exercise of religion,” said Douglas Laycock, a law professor at the University of Michigan. “Exemptions lift those burdens.”