This raises some really interesting issues. Essentially, the CARES Act lets small nonprofits receive forgiveable SBA loans. The loans can only be used for a couple purposes; the big one is to pay salaries. 1/ https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1247525565080338435">https://twitter.com/NPR/statu...

So if churches are allowed access to these loans, almost by definition some money will go to pay clergy salaries. If they don& #39;t get access to them, churches are being treated worse than non-church nonprofits. 2/

Honestly, though, IMHO, that& #39;s the less-interesting question. More interesting is that the SBA loan are basically supposed to go to small orgs, ones with fewer than 501 employees.

And there& #39;s an affiliation test, meant to combine the workforce of affiliated entities. 3/

Normally, SBA loan aren& #39;t available to nonprofits. So in large part, the affiliation test is based on equity ownership. But nonprofits don& #39;t have equity ownership, so the SBA is going to have to look at actual control. 4/

That actual control test, as applied to churches, could implicate impermissible entanglement between government and religion. (Otoh, it may not.) How& #39;s the SBA dealing with this?

It depends on whether you believe its regs or its FAQ. 5/

According to the regs, it just won& #39;t apply the affiliation test to religious orgs. According to its FAQs, it will take a church& #39;s word that it doesn& #39;t affiliated. 6/6