BOSTON --Churches and other religious organizations would be required to disclose their finances like other nonprofit groups under a bill overwhelmingly approved by the state Senate on Wednesday.
"We have a law that enables that darkness," said state Sen. Marian Walsh, D-Boston, chief sponsor of the bill, which was approved 33-4 in the Senate. "Moral transparency and financial transparency are inextricably linked."
The Rev. Dr. Diane C. Kessler, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, criticized the Senate for rushing the bill to the floor for a vote on the same day that they debated a complex overhaul of the state's health care system.
"It is ironic that those advocating transparency would resort to these tactics which are far from transparent," Kessler said in a statement.
(emphasis: mine)
