"A Quiet Faith?"

It's summer, and a law prof's mind turns to thoughts of . . . self-promotion.  I've posted on SSRN a paper I wrote, a few years ago, on tax-exempt religious institutions.  The paper is called "A Quiet Faith?  Taxes, Politics, and the Privatization of Religion."  Here is the abstract:

The government exempts religious associations from taxation and, in return, restricts their putatively “political” expression and activities.  This exemption-and-restriction scheme invites government to interpret and categorize the means by which religious communities live out their vocations and engage the world.  But government is neither well suited nor to be trusted with this kind of line-drawing.  What’s more, this invitation is dangerous to authentically religious consciousness and associations.  When government communicates and enforces its own view of the nature of religion­, i.e., that it is a “private” matter­and of its proper place­, i.e., in the “private” sphere, not “in politics”,­ it tempts believers and faith communities also to embrace this view. The result is a privatized faith, re-shaped to suit the vision and needs of government, and a public square evacuated of religious associations capable of mediating between persons and the state and challenging prophetically the government’s claims and conduct.

I wrote about this topic also, a few weeks ago, in USA Today ("Campaigning from the Pulpit?  Why Not?).