THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 17, 1994 TAG: 9409170284
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
After a last-minute order by President Clinton, the Justice Department reversed itself Thursday and sided with churches rather than loan collectors in a dispute over tithing.
Clinton avoided a major political gaffe by stopping a Justice Department lawyer from arguing in federal court that creditors have a right to seize money tithed to a church by someone going broke.
Tithing, or donating one-tenth of a person's gross income to the church, is considered a religious duty by thousands of Americans.
``It was truly an 11th-hour thing,'' said Greg Baylor, a lawyer with a religious legal organization that was set to fight the Justice Department. ``We can only say that we are thrilled.''
The case in question deals with a Minnesota couple, Bruce and Nancy Young, who declared bankruptcy in 1993. They had donated $13,450 to their church in Crystal, Minn., during the year before they went broke.
The Youngs' creditors sought to obtain their tithed money from the church, under a provision of the law that prohibits people going bankrupt from hiding their assets. Unless something of ``value'' is purchased, which can even include alcohol or entertainment, creditors have a right to that money.
The Justice Department was prepared to argue that tithing purchased nothing of value.
Religious organizations say that the case is important because it is the first test of the new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which Clinton supported and signed in 1993. The law prevents the government from enforcing laws that abridge religious practices without powerful reasons.
KEYWORDS: TITHING RULING U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT by CNB