Traditional U. S. policy of full property tax exemption for all churches and religious organizations apparently faces a major review.
Such exemptions now cover property with a total assessment estimated at 10 billion dollars or more.
In New York City alone, the current value of churches, synagogues, monasteries, and convents is nearly 570 million dollars. Projected for the entire nation on the basis of population, the comparable figure easily exceeds 10 billion dollars.
Tax officials in numerous communities are known to be studying the possibility of modification in the church tax exemption pattern. They are particularly concerned in cases where churches appear to engage in outright competition with secular enterprises. So are many churchmen (see “Tax Exemption and the Churches,” August 3, 1959 issue; editorial, “Taxation and the Churches,” January 4, 1960 issue; as well as page 20 in this issue).
Boldest effort thus far is in Nashville, Tennessee, where city assessors have been trying to add to their tax rolls the Methodist and Baptist publishing houses, which are among the largest in the nation.
The assessors’ move ultimately came before the Tennessee Board of Equalization, the state’s tax review agency. The board disallowed the city’s assessment of the Baptist operations, but retained 50 per cent of the assessment on the Methodist publishing house. Board members apparently feel that the Methodists fail to confine publishing activities to the religious sphere.
Tax officials and churchmen alike are becoming more vocal over alleged abuse of property tax exemption by some religious enterprises. In view of rising demands for additional public revenue, crackdowns on abuse are predicted.
Increased attention to church property exemptions also is attributable to a large growth in the total volume and value of these exemptions. As religious groups flourish, they tend to acquire more property and more valuable property.
Many students of public finance are unalterably opposed to church tax exemption. Some regard it as a holdover from the days of the established church. Some even think it inconsistent with the principle of church-state separation. A counter-argument is that tax exemptions provide necessary encouragement to worthy purposes and that strengthening such institutions enhances the value of other nearby property. Many Protestants point out that the state’s right to tax is limited, and that taxing churches would violate church-state separation, although they are concerned over abuses which tend to encourage reactionary solutions.
Concerned church leaders foresee the possibility of a growing resentment against the accumulation by church groups of tax-free properties. Some even fear a wave of anti-religious feeling which could result in a drastic curtailment of exemptions, if not in ultimate expropriation.
Protestant leaders differ sharply on the course to be followed. Some feel that any enterprise sponsored by a religious group should be tax-free. With churches tending toward more elaborate physical plants, the result is often that some very commercial projects elude the assessor, including parking lots which produce revenue on week days, cafeterias and rummage sales. First target of tax assessors will doubtless be property not directly used for worship and education.
Any general trend toward taxing the more commercial aspects of church activity is sure to meet strong opposition from the Roman Catholic hierarchy, whose holdings are by far the most extensive. The Roman Church contends that the payment of any tax levied by a secular agency on any church owned property is contrary to canon law.
Baptist leaders gathered in Washington last fall to discuss church tax exemption voiced contrasting opinions on whether the present policy contributes to or injures the future of the freedom of the churches.
Conferees agreed that the New Testament does not offer any specific precedent for tax exemption of church property (defined as property used for worship and religious education), but the majority felt that no conflict with New Testament principles is involved in the concept of tax exemption. However, a strong minority felt that any form of tax exemption for churches injures the future of the freedom of the churches.
Showdown Faces Denominational Publishers In Nashville
Protestant publishing houses constitute a major industry in Nashville, Tennessee. Out of the city come tons of religious literature every year. Most of the material originates in the Methodist or Southern Baptist publishing houses. The Methodist publishing house (Abingdon Press) claims to be the largest denominational publisher in America. The Baptist publishing operation (Broadman Press) also ranks high in size. In a city of only 170,000, a high concentration of valuable, tax-exempt properties posed a problem for tax officials.
Nashville was therefore a likely place for a controversy over tax exemptions for church-owned property. Like so many other municipalities, the city has had to face increasing demands upon its public revenues.
The city first placed assessment on the Baptist and Methodist publishing properties for the year 1959. Subsequently the issue came before the Tennessee Board of Equalization, tax review agency for the State, which ruled against the assessment of nearly $5,000,000 on Southern Baptist properties. In the case of the Methodists, however, the board said that the publishing house must pay 50 per cent of the city’s assessment (a reported $694,050 for 1959 and $773,150 for 1960) on grounds that its operation is “the same business as that of commercial publishers without regard for the need of such publication by the religious institution.”
The Methodist publishing house differs from the Baptist in that it (1) operates its own printing plant (it even accepts outside business) and (2) reaches into the secular field with its books. The Baptists do no printing of their own and are understood to steer clear of non-religious book markets.
The Methodists are believed to be preparing a court appeal of the assessment against them. The city, meanwhile, is also said to be planning to appeal the state board’s ruling in favor of the Baptists.
Coming: Dead Sea Scrolls
Several of the 2000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls will be displayed in the United States, Great Britain, and other countries under terms of an agreement now being worked out with the government of Jordan.
In the United States, the exhibit probably will be housed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C.
The plan, according to a U. S. State Department spokesman, is to supply funds from private sources in the United States, Great Britain, and other nations to purchase scrolls still in the hands of Bedouins and to reimburse the American School of Oriental Research for scrolls already in hand.
The scrolls would remain the property of the Jordanian government, the spokesman added.
The earliest of the documents is estimated to belong to the second century B.C. Many others are assigned to the time of Christ and the Apostles.
Defying Superiors
A Protestant Episcopal clergyman in New York City defied his ecclesiastical superiors last month by refusing to read from the pulpit a pastoral letter issued by the Episcopal House of Bishops.
The 4,000-word letter, released in November at the annual meeting of the bishops in Dallas, reaffirmed the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds “as the symbols of the rock of our faith,” observing that they were as valid in the twentieth century as they were centuries ago.
In a sermon at St. George’s Church, where he is rector, the Rev. Edward O. Miller described the document as full of “pious religious jargon” couched in “archaic language” and “double talk.”
According to Protestant Episcopal canon law, a pastoral letter must be read in the 7,500 parishes of the church within one month after it is received.
In the present letter, the bishops called the creeds a “proclamation of a faith, a gift whose kind and nature does not in itself change from generation to generation.”
“I love the creeds,” Miller said. “I recite them, and I think I have overcome honestly the intellectual obstacles. But when any one tries to tell an Episcopalian that he is unequivocally—which means without variety of interpretation—committed to a particular creed, I can only remind him of the wisdom of Alfred North Whitehead who said ‘religions commit suicide when they find their inspirations in their dogmas.’ ”
Protestant Panorama
● The Civil War Centennial Commission is distributing a booklet on “The Role of Religion in the Civil War Centennial.” Officials from major Protestant denominations, as well as from the National Council of Churches and the National Association of Evangelicals, are represented on the commission’s Religious Advisory Council and are cooperating in the observance, which gets under way officially on Sunday, January 8.
● The American Lutheran Church will commemorate its founding by establishing a congregation in each of its 19 territorial districts this year. Each of the congregations will be named “Atonement Lutheran Church” or “Lutheran Church of the Atonement.” January I was the official date set for The ALC’s beginning. It comes into being through merger of the Evangelical, American and United Evangelical Lutheran churches.
● German Lutheran churches are opening their first joint theological seminary to serve territorial bodies throughout East and West Germany. The new $240,000 Preachers’ and Study Seminary at Pullach, near Munich, is intended for advanced theological research and teaching and for specialized religious training.
● Dr. Herschel H. Hobbs, pastor of Oklahoma City’s First Baptist Church, will be permanent preacher for “the Baptist Hour,” the first in history for the 20-year-old international radio broadcast.
● A Cuban refugee center is being established in Miami by the United Presbyterian Board of National Missions in cooperation with Presbyterian churches in Florida.
● The United Church of Canada is sponsoring a “Motor League of Moral Responsibility.” Sole qualification for “membership,” says the church’s Board of Evangelism and Social Service, is the simple affirmation, “I care.”
● The Lutheran Church Center in Washington, D. C., is undergoing an expansion program to meet growing needs for office space. Two adjacent buildings have been acquired for joint use by agencies of the National Lutheran Council and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
● Northern Baptist Theological Seminary’s move to the Chicago suburbs seems assured with receipt of a grant to purchase 10 acres of a proposed 50-acre site near Lombard, Illinois. The site is 10 miles west of the Chicago city limits and adjoins property of the new Bethany Biblical Seminary, graduate theological school of the Church of the Brethren.
● The 19-year-old Christ for America organization, promoter of visitation evangelism, is being disbanded. Assets have been purchased by the Christian Home League.
● Barrington College won accreditation last month from the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Only eight colleges in Rhode Island possess such recognition (Brown University, Pembroke, University of Rhode Island, Providence College, Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island College, and Salve Regina College).
● Assemblies of God churches in El Salvador are witnessing unprecedented growth, attributable largely to Sunday School evangelism. Now in operation across the tiny Central American republic are more than 738 branch Sunday Schools conducted by Assemblies of God personnel. The total represents a 500 per cent increase in three years.
● The Evangelical Teacher Placement Agency approved some 60 applications during its first year of operation. The agency was established in 1959 as a cooperative effort of Christian college educators to meet the problem of teacher shortages. An abundance of personnel trained to teach theology has become evident, but vacancies tend to arise in languages, natural sciences, and education.
● “Light Time,” a National Lutheran Council television series for children, is said to be gaining in popularity across the country. Some 60 stations now air the weekly quarter-hour programs, which are available as a free public-service feature.
