By Jim on
Society & Culture
Gay Agenda
Religious Freedom
Bob Jones University
Religious Liberty

The Specter of the Bob Jones Case - The endgame of the culture war.

Discussion

Thu, 06/25/15

Different perspective on the 80’s BJU case than I can recall seeing anywhere else.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Thu, 06/25/15

For further insight to the BJU Supreme Court case, I commend reading Dr. Dan Turner’s history of

history of the University, STANDING WITHOUT APOLOGY, BJU Press, 1997, Greenville, SC. His

chapters 20 & 21, “It’s Religion,Not Race,” and “The Power to Tax Is the Power to Destroy”, along

with the footnotes are helpful. While the dating rule was subsequently discontinued, the case

precedent and potentialities continue. Captain Joe Henderson

Fri, 06/26/15

I believe that we’ll be able to handle loss of tax exemption. What we’ll need to prepare for is how to explain our convictions to curious observers. I recall trying to explain my alma mater’s conviction 35 years ago. This explanation will be easier.

"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan

Sun, 06/28/15

In law school, you learn that hard cases often make bad law. The Supreme Court’s decision in the BJU case was bad law. It required the Court to tie itself in knots to re-interpret a statute that said “you’re tax exempt if you’re charitable OR religious or educational, etc.” into one that said “you’re tax exempt if you’re charitable (re-defined to include compliance with “public policy”) AND religious or educational, etc.” But (in addition to too many justices’ normal disregard for their proper role) it was a hard case — how could anyone justify, or even appear to justify, a rule that so obviously had its roots in racism rather than sincere religious belief? Even of the Court’s conservative justices, only one (Rehnquist) had the courage to dissent, so it was an 8-1 decision.

Sadly, the racism of decades past cost BJU its tax exempt status in the early ‘80’s and now looks set to play a role in the likely loss of tax exempt status of all orthodox religious organizations in this decade.

Side note: at a law school function shortly after the BJU decision, I actually met Justice Rehnquist. He asked me the typical question, what had been my undergrad school. When I told him it was BJU, he laughed rather heartily. He may have even said I was the first student he’d met from there. Then he had to move on to the next student.