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By Root 1671 0

four states studied were equally beneficent toward religious adherents, although the number and type of exemptions did vary from state to state. All four states exempt churches and religious organizations from a wide array of tax obligations; from property taxes to franchise taxes to sales taxes on church restaurants and dining rooms. All four also allow tax deductions for contributions to religious organizations. All four exempt from militia service ordained ministers and divinity students as well as those who object to such service on religious grounds. In some states, children whose parents object to their being taught certain subjects are excused from those classes. And children whose parents object to their being immunized may also be excused from such obligations. Religious schools, in turn, receive various exemptions and protections, ranging from an exemption from antidiscrimination laws to an exemption from registration and approval requirements.

[¶ 76] All four states also have various antidiscrimination laws that forbid discrimination on the basis of religion in such contexts as public employment and educational benefits. Gambling regulations in two of the states contain exemptions for religious organizations. Two states also exempt religious organizations from solicitation regulations and reporting requirements. Religious corporations, in each of the states, are free from many state corporate rules and regulations. Employees in two of the states are excused from physical examination requirements if they object to such exams for religious reasons. Child care facilities and preschools that are run by religious organizations are free, in one state, from licensing requirements and other state regulations.

[¶ 77] Finally, each of the states grants some unique exemptions to religious groups. Alabama, for example, exempts church buses from state inspection requirements, and exempts income earned by foreign missionaries from its income tax laws. California allows religious exemptions from mandated autopsies (to be claimed by members of the decedent's family), and provides various exemptions from health and insurance regulations to those who rely on prayer for healing. Connecticut allows churches and religious organizations to ignore the state prohibition on Sunday work, and allows religious groups to show movies without obtaining a license. And Minnesota allows an exemption from its prohibition against corporate farming for farms run by religious groups; exempts the religious use of peyote from its drug laws; and exempts funeral directors who belong to religious organizations that object to embalming from the requirement of obtaining an embalming license.

[¶ 78] The exemptions mentioned are not exhaustive of those contained in the federal and state statutes, nor are they meant to be. They are included only to provide a sense of the degree to which religion and religious practices are accommodated and protected by legislatures. Although these protections vary somewhat from state to state, the statutory exemptions nonetheless serve to contrast the treatment of religious practice in the legislatures to that in the courts. In numerical terms, at least at the federal level (state court decisions were not studied), it is clear that religious groups have received significantly more exemptions from legislatures than they have from federal courts.

[¶ 79] The results of this brief survey of federal and state statutes, though illuminating, are not very surprising. That legislatures are helpful to “majority” religions261 is generally recognized and rarely questioned. Indeed, the very existence of so many Establishment Clause cases suggests that legislatures tend, at least in the eyes of plaintiffs, to be too helpful to (majority) religious groups. If such religious groups are forced to rely on the political process rather than the courts for protection, therefore, one would expect their success in that process to continue.263

Here again we see the value of more data. Rather than just speculating that the legislature might provide