Court overturns Virginia ban on church incorporation

[Derek Gaubatz]

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16084

ROANOKE, Va. - In a lawsuit brought by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a federal
judge ruled that an 18th-century Virginia law banning churches from
receiving corporate charters unconstitutionally restricts the free exercise
of religion.

U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon ordered the State Corporation Commission
to grant Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church a corporate charter, needed to
accomplish the Lynchburg minister's dream of a master-planned Christian
community.

Moon wrote that the state constitution discriminates based on religious
status.

"Unlike other groups in Virginia, members of 'a church or religious
denomination' are ... denied the benefits of incorporation because of their
religious status," Moon wrote in an opinion issued April 15 in Lynchburg.

Corporation commission spokesman Ken Schrad said yesterday he did not know
if the commission would grant Falwell a charter.

*  *   *

"The worst part has been that the church has had to go before a circuit
court judge for every business transaction," Falwell said in an interview.
"It's not been something we couldn't deal with, but it has been very
burdensome."

Virginia's ban on church incorporation is rooted in Thomas Jefferson's 1779
Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, which calls for a strict
separation of church and state. The General Assembly outlawed corporate
charters for churches in 1787 and included the ban in Article IV, Section 14
of the Virginia Constitution.

In addition to the ban on incorporation, churches are not allowed to own
more than 15 acres of property in a city or town and 250 acres in any one
county. Virginia and West Virginia are the only states with such
restrictions.

*  *  *

Since opening Thomas Road 46 years ago in Lynchburg, Falwell's ministry has
grown into a sprawling 4,300-acre enterprise that includes a broadcasting
network, Liberty University, a retirement village and a youth camp.

*  *   *

Falwell, who wants to build a 6,000-seat sanctuary on 60 acres near his
university, sued the state in November in an attempt to overturn laws that
forbid churches from obtaining corporate charters and restrict the amount of
property they can own.

Moon has yet to rule on a second lawsuit that challenges Virginia's property
restriction.

A corporate charter would give Falwell's church added protection from
liability lawsuits, the ability to sue as an organization and the power to
enter contracts.

It would also allow Falwell to eventually include his entire ministry under
one corporate umbrella. Currently, the ministry is controlled by a dozen or
so mini-corporations under separate charters and boards of directors.


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Leigh Armstrong [mailto:alanarmstrong.com at VERIZON.NET]
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2002 3:32 PM
To: RELIGIONLAW at listserv.ucla.edu
Subject: Re: Limits on church property ownership


So if we have a University (call it Notre Dame) and it has a chapel, as
large as many cathedrals, it does not fall under the 15 acre limit?

I would expect most large churches to have schools, day care, or other
non-church activities attached. Is only the land for the church counted?

There are mechanical problems calculating the land use where the church has
a school.

State: "There are 45 parking spaces for church use that are not for school
use and that puts you over the limit."

Church: "Those 45 spaces are used for back to school night, graduation, and
dodge ball. They are part of the school, not the church."

Alan

--
Law Office of Alan Leigh Armstrong
18652 Florida St., Suite 225
Huntington Beach CA 92648-6006
(714) 375 1147  Fax (714) 375 1149
www.alanarmstrong.com
alan at alanarmstrong.com
or alanarmstrong.com at verizon.net
KE6LLN