The Supreme Court has ended years of confusion among religious organizations by ruling that an employee pension plan established by religiously affiliated organizations is considered a “church plan” and not covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Several Courts of Appeals had previously ruled that such plans would be subject to more protective ERISA requirements if not established directly by a church. ( See Nonprofit Issues , March 2016. ) ERISA was originally passed in 1974 to require private employers offering pension plans to adhere to rules designed to ensure plan solvency and protect plan participants but the act excluded “church plans” from coverage of the...