Speaking of the new Massachusetts disclosure law aimed at churches, state Sen. Marian Walsh has a letter to the editor in yesterday’s Boston Herald defending her proposal. (It’s not online.) She begins her letter saying:
Churches are public charities indistinct from educational, civil rights, and social welfare organizations and should file an Annual Financial Report like other tax-exempt organizations.
I’m sorry Senator, but you’re wrong. Church are distinct from those other organizations because they have a federal constitutional amendment protecting them, the First one.
