Hatch wants tithing rights protected

WASHINGTON — Sen. Orrin Hatch wants the Justice Department to correct what he and other senators see as a "misinterpretation" in a decision made in a New York bankruptcy case dealing with charitable contributions.

Late last month, the court decided that certain people at higher income levels who are in Chapter 13 repayment plans cannot deduct charitable contributions when calculating their disposable income.

"For people of faith in America, the obligation to tithe presents a significant part of the free exercise of religion, which is guaranteed to all Americans under the First Amendment," Hatch, R-Utah, along with Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., wrote in a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

They want Gonzales "to file court papers in appropriate cases to correct this misinterpretation, as well as issue mandatory guidance to Chapter 13 trustees so that they not object to reasonable charitable contributions in Chapter 13 repayment plans."

The senators reminded Gonzales that Congress has passed laws "to protect the exercise of religion from encroachment by bankruptcy courts and trustees."

One law, approved in 1998, specifically protects tithing in the context of bankruptcy law so trustees may no longer demand that churches "refund" tithes to the bankruptcy courts, but debtors also have a statutory right to include tithes in repayment plans.

Also, the bankruptcy reform legislation passed last year, which the three senators sponsored, intended to change this right to allow tithes in a bankruptcy repayment plan.

"As the lead sponsors of both these important bankruptcy statutes, we can assure you that Congress never intended to exclude reasonable tithing in bankruptcy repayment plans," the senators wrote.

They want the Justice Department to specifically direct the private parties that oversee repayment plans to not object to reasonable charitable contributions included in a repayment plan if the contribution meets the requirements of the law.

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