Update: the Massachusetts church-disclosure bill

Among the many, many interesting items over at Professor Friedman's invaluable "Religion Clause Blog" is an announcement of some welcome news:

According to Friday's Jewish Advocate, many Jewish groups are now joining the opposition to a bill pending in the Massachusetts legislature that would require religious institutions to make the same financial disclosures as nonprofit organizations. (See prior posting.) State Rep. Ruth Balser said the bill was a response to issues that arose in the Boston Catholic archdiocese after the child sexual abuse scandals. But, Balser noted, because of the centralized nature of the archdiocese, only four dioceses in the state would have to file disclosure statements, while each individual synagogue, Protestant church and mosque would have to file separately. A statement issued by Boston's Jewish Community Relations Council argues that the bill "unfairly and disproportionately" affects religious institutions such as synagogues, which have lay-led structures. Also opposing the legislation are the Massachusetts Council of Churches and the Islamic Council of New England.

As I have mentioned before, I think the bill is misguided and dangerous.  Dean John Garvey got it right:

[I]t is not the government's business to take sides in internal church disputes. You can imagine a legal system where it does. British courts supervise the way churches use their members' money. But the Church of England is controlled by the government. Our First Amendment forbids any such arrangement. When we talk about separation of church and state, this is what we mean -- that it is none of the state's business to say how churches are run. . .

. . . The Constitution favors an arrangement that leaves churches financially independent: The government does not support them; it should not inhibit their efforts to support themselves, and it should not get involved in reviewing how they spend their money. That is a matter for churches and their members to resolve among themselves.