About all that's really happened is, some people were needlessly caused distress, and the comptroller's name got out on 2 different news cycles. (Yes, I'm cynical where she's concerned, but anyone who's followed her career for the past 15 years would have to be extremely gullible not to be cynical at this point.)
http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/auto/epaper/editions/tuesday/metro_state_042bfebf469b90b600ef.html Unitarians get religious status after intercession Earlier decision is changed after state comptroller orders re-evaluation By Ken Herman AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Tuesday, May 25, 2004 Reversing a ruling that shocked church officials, the state comptroller's office decided Monday that the 52 members of Denison's Red River Unitarian Universalist Church are engaged in religious activity when they meet on Sundays. Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn's office said the Denison church is entitled to tax-exempt status as a religious organization. The exemption had been denied in September because the comptroller's office determined that the church "does not have one system of belief." Unitarian officials had said that was the first time one of its churches had been denied tax-exempt status. On Monday, Jesse Ancira Jr., general counsel in the comptroller's office, said Strayhorn had asked him to take another look at the case. "After reviewing your submitted application, file material, as well as correspondence between yourself and staff from our tax policy division, it is my opinion that the Red River Unitarian Universalist Church is an organization created for religious purposes and should be granted the requested tax exemption," Ancira said in a letter to Dan Althoff, the congregation's president. Scottie Johnson of Denison, the congregation's past president, said church officials were astonished when the exemption was denied. "We obviously are a church and (are) meeting for religious purposes and a long established denomination," she said. "We are not just a recent player on the religious scene in any way, shape or form." The Denison congregation was formed in 1997 and filed for tax-exempt status after affiliating with the Unitarian Universalist Association. The church owns no property and faces little to no tax obligation. "It was the principle of the thing," Johnson said, adding that she believes in a supreme being but knows that some of her fellow congregants do not. "Universal Unitarianism as a denomination does not require any creedal test to be a member. Every person in the church might have a slightly different idea." The comptroller's office has said tax-exempt status cannot be granted to organizations whose members do not profess belief in "God or gods or a higher power." Mark Sanders, Strayhorn's spokesman, said the exemption request had been denied at the staff level. He said Strayhorn asked Ancira to review the case last week after a Fort Worth Star-Telegram story examined the 17 cases in which Strayhorn's office denied tax exemptions to groups claiming to have religious affiliations. Several of the denials were based on incomplete paperwork or because the applicant's services were not open to the public. Sanders said Strayhorn has not asked for reviews of any of the other denials, which included requests from groups including agnostics and atheists, new age adherents and the Whispering Star Clan/Temple of Ancient Wisdom, a Copperas Cove organization of witches. Strayhorn is in a courthouse fight over religious exemptions. The case was ignited by the Ethical Society of Austin, which sued then-Comptroller John Sharp when he reversed a staff-level ruling that had granted exempt status despite the organization's lack of a prescribed belief in a supreme being. The Texas Supreme Court last month upheld lower court rulings that the Ethical Society of Austin, which has 60 members, is entitled to tax-exempt status as a religion. Strayhorn plans to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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