Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has joined a multi-state amicus brief in support of religious liberty in a Virginia case, arguing that the City of Fredericksburg violated the First Amendment when it denied a property tax exemption to a residence owned by a church and occupied by two of its pastors. Contrary to long-standing constitutional doctrine that protects religious entities from judicial intrusion, the Virginia court dismissed the church’s theological assessment of its doctrine and substituted its own, in concluding that the pastors did not count as “ministers.”
“The Virginia court refused a religious organization’s tax exemption by taking the law into its own hands, and the First Amendment prohibits this kind of governmental interference in faith and religion,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Courts cannot refuse to acknowledge religious liberties when the facts and the Constitution specifically support them.”
Read the full of Amicus Brief here.