Abstract

Around the U.S.A.: Controlling the Conscience of the Church

California is still the only state in the U.S. where churches and educational and charitable organizations must sign once a year a declaration of "non-disloyalty" in order to obtain tax exemption. The law requiring them to do so, passed in 1953, is an enabling law to a previously passed amendment to the California constitution which stipulates that no person or organization advocating the overthrow of the government of the United States or of California by force or violence or other unlawful means or the support of a foreign government in case of hostilities shall be entitled to tax exemption. While charitable and educational organizations have shown little interest in the law, some churches and veterans' groups have brought the matter into court. In Contra Costa County. Lawrence Spiser, a veteran and a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, brought suit against the tax assessor, and the Superior Court of the county, with all five judges sitting as a body, decided unanimously that the law was unconstitutional.