Strayhorn under fire for religion litmus test

From the Houston Chronicle, an update on a recent Real Art post:

From covens of witches to the faiths of presidents, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is empowered to decide which organizations are exempt from paying sales, franchise and property taxes in Texas. The essential question she has to decide is: What is a religion?

To get to that answer, Strayhorn asks a simple question that determines divinity in some cases: Do you have a god or gods?

Strayhorn, a Republican, has granted religious status to more than 1,000 congregations during her four years in office. But it is the 18 she has denied that have caused controversy, especially when her decision was based on whether or how they worshipped a supreme being.

The Texas Supreme Court last month ruled that Strayhorn was wrong in denying tax-exempt status to an Austin "humanist" faith. And amid publicity over her denial of a religious designation for a Unitarian Universalist congregation in North Texas, Strayhorn reversed herself last week and granted it tax-exempt status.

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