One of the most secular of practices is the hiring and payment of full-time employees. In a world filled with religious institutions that behave like secular corporations, it is no wonder that tax laws finally caught up to them. Most medical centers have a cadre of senior citizen volunteers to perform hospitality and minor administrative functions, yet most churches today can't get by without a full-time paid secretary. No, but to do so invites the consequences that come with them, FICA notwithstanding. We see that churches are, indeed, subject to the law of the land when the church's activities interface with regulated practices.
Employment is no different, and most churches acknowledge that.
There are various ways a church can act as an employer. The most obvious is to pay wages, withhold taxes and FICA, and pay the employer's share of FICA, as most businesses do. Law-abiding churches have no quarrel or conflict with the feds because they keep their noses clean. The 'crisis' of religious freedom that Pastor Dixon fears arises from the flaunting of the law, which is hardly Biblical teaching. Pastor Dixon uses copious amounts of scriptural references to justify his position that churches don't need to pay taxes.