In an op-ed for USA Today, Michael Farris, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association and chancellor of Patrick Henry College, warns that Christian universities could be in danger of losing their tax exempt status if the Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage.

Farris notes that in the recent Supreme Court arguments, a question was posed to Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr. by Justice Samuel Alito that revealed the problem:

"In the Bob Jones case, the court held that a college was not entitled to tax exempt status if it opposed interracial marriage or interracial dating. So would the same apply to a university or a college if it opposed same-sex marriage?"

Verrilli is quoted as responding, "[I]t's certainly going to be an issue, I don't deny that."

Farris explains that the IRS revoked Bob Jones University's tax exempt status in 1983 because of the school's own religious beliefs and policies regarding interracial couples.

"The Supreme Court rejected their defense holding that the government's goal of eradicating racial discrimination in marriage was more important than BJU's religious rights," Farris states.

He reasons that if any religious organizations stand opposed to same-sex marriage for the sake of religious convictions, they will suffer the same fate. For churches, he warns that even though they "can be exempt without application, their exemption can nonetheless be revoked."

Farris explores other possible scenarios and ends with and explanation of where he stands on the issue as a college chancellor:

Colleges and universities that receive federal funding will be coerced into immediate compliance. Accreditation agencies will ratchet up their bullying of Christian institutions, as has already been done against Gordon College in Massachusetts. Threats to accreditation are fatal. Colleges may not legally operate in several states without it.

Christian colleges and churches need to get prepared. We must decide which is more important to us — our tax exemption or our religious convictions. Keep in mind, it is not the idea that the college itself might have to pay taxes that is the threat. Schools like Patrick Henry College, which I started, never run much of a profit. But since PHC refuses all government aid, all of our donations for scholarships and buildings come from tax deductible gifts. Cutting off that stream of revenue is effectively the end of such colleges absent a team of donors who simply don't care if gifts are deductible.

A slogan of the American Revolution, "We have no King but Jesus" may well be overturned by a 5 to 4 decision of the Supreme Court near the end of June.

Farris ended by declaring Patrick Henry College would "stand forthrightly for Christ and for liberty no matter what the cost."