The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a case Thursday in which the Freedom from Religion Foundation accused the U.S government of providing an unfair advantage to religious organizations in the form of housing allowances.
Current law allows for clergy to receive an allowance from their respective religious institution, which can then be spent as tax-free income.
The unanimous decision found that the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a secular group based in Wisconsin, had insufficient standing to bring the lawsuit, as the the group never applied for the parsonage exemption and thus had suffered no injury on which to ground their complaint.
“It is clear, however, that a plaintiff cannot establish standing based solely on being offended by the government’s alleged violation of the Establishment Clause,” said Judge Joel Flaum in the majority opinion. “The plaintiffs here have never been denied the parsonage exemption because they have never requested it; therefore, they have suffered no injury.”
The decision overruled U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb’s ruling last year that struck down the federal law providing for housing assistance to clergy.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization dedicated to protecting religious faith, supported the decision in a Thursday statement.
“The allowance many churches provide to pastors is church money, not government money,” Eric Stanley, legal counsel for the organization, said in the statement. “It is constitutional and should continue to be respected and protected.”
Dan Barker, co-president of the FFRF, vowed to continue the fight against what he saw as an unconstitutional advantage for clergy.
“We will continue to challenge this indefensible favoritism for religion in other forums until the issue cannot be circumvented,” Barker said in a press release.
