When the Supreme Court ruled that all states must recognize same-sex marriages in June, it turned a spotlight on Christian colleges and universities.
Some conservative Christian schools, due to their interpretation of Scripture, reject homosexuality on religious grounds. Most accredited Christian schools in the United States are tax exempt, as is true of the majority of secular colleges and universities. To maintain their tax-exempt statuses and the financial privileges that position confers, schools must abide by federal and state law.
The question that naturally arises is whether Christian institutions will have to change their views on homosexuality in order to maintain their tax-exempt statuses.
When the Obergefell v. Hodges decision came out in June, Chief Justice John Roberts argued in his dissenting opinion that religious institutions cannot expect to maintain the protections they currently enjoy, writing:
“Hard questions arise when people of faith exercise religion in ways that may be seen to conflict with the new right to same-sex marriage — when, for example, a religious college provides married student housing only to opposite-sex married couples. … Indeed, the Solicitor General candidly acknowledged that the tax exemptions of some religious institutions would be in question if they opposed same-sex marriage. … There is little doubt that these and similar questions will soon be before this Court. Unfortunately, people of faith can take no comfort in the treatment they receive from the majority today.”
Preparing for change
Solicitor General Donald Verrilli opined that a decision to legalize same-sex marriage “is certainly going to be an issue” for the continuing tax-exempt status of some religious institutions in oral arguments in April.
