{"id":247,"date":"2024-10-10T08:34:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T14:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/warrens-voice.com\/?p=247"},"modified":"2024-10-09T11:51:05","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T17:51:05","slug":"iowa-churches-are-already-benefiting-the-religious-freedom-restoration-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warrens-voice.com\/?p=247","title":{"rendered":"Iowa Churches Are Already Benefiting The Religious Freedom Restoration Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which became law a few months ago, is already protecting Iowa churches!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Last month, Calvary Community Church in Cedar Rapids enjoyed a major victory against several left-wing activists who brought a legal challenge against the church nearly a year ago. The whole ordeal began last Fall after the church\u2019s pastor was in the news for making his personal political views public by endorsing a local school board candidate. Instead of recognizing that pastors have First Amendment rights like other Americans, the pastor\u2019s political opponents began harassing him and his church. They filed a complaint with the Iowa Department of Revenue, alleging that the church should lose its property tax exemption. This type of complaint is only allowed because Iowa Code section 427.1(16) provides a means for individual taxpayers to contest the tax exemptions of others in their community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Calvary Community Church (Cedar Rapids)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, churches in Iowa now have RFRA, which prevents the government from placing a substantial burden on religion without showing that (1) there is a compelling state interest and (2) the state used the least restrictive means possible to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no question that defending a tax exemption challenge is a substantial burden for any church\u2014legal proceedings are often incredibly time-consuming and costly. But could the government meet its burden in this case? No, according to the administrative law judge at the Iowa Department of Revenue. Rather than subjecting churches to private lawsuits, the state could be less restrictive by limiting enforcement to state actors.The judge explained<\/a>, \u201cthe State\u2019s compelling interest in the appropriate administration of tax law can be met with the lesser restrictive means of having the State . . . enforce tax law.\u201d As a result, the case was dismissed\u2014a major victory for the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a few things to note about this particular case going forward:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, this is a procedural win for the church, not a decision on the merits of their tax exemption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, this is a very odd RFRA case in that the government isn\u2019t a party to the lawsuit. It is<\/p>\n\n\n\n

unclear how this oddity may come into play during future proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, this case might not be over. Losers of an administrative proceeding have the right to seek judicial review in district court. But even if the decision is appealed, the church is in a much better spot than it would have been without RFRA. Rather than years of costly litigation\u2014motions, discovery requests, briefings, and hearings\u2014a church received quick dismissal and a leg up if the case goes to district court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ryan Benn is an attorney and Indianola resident who graduated from Drake Law School in 2021.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sponsored <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which became law a few months ago, is already protecting Iowa churches!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,5,98,27],"tags":[101,100,99,61],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-opinion","category-religious-liberty","category-warrens-voice","tag-calvary-community-church","tag-religious-freedom-restoration-act","tag-religious-liberty","tag-ryan-benn"],"yoast_head":"\nIowa Churches Are Already Benefiting The Religious Freedom Restoration Act - Warren's Voice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which became law a few months ago, is already protecting Iowa churches!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/warrens-voice.com\/?p=247\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iowa Churches Are Already Benefiting The Religious Freedom Restoration Act - 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