What Is The Difference Between A Church And A Religious Organization?

Darryll K. Jones (Florida A&M), What is the Difference Between a Church and a Religious Organization? Amici line up in Support of Catholic Charities:

Friends of the Court are lining up in support of Catholic Charities Bureau's Petition for Certiorari.  Here is a brief recap:

Wisconsin denied a religious exemption from employment taxes to the Wisconsin Catholic Charities Bureau and its charitable sub-agents (independent organizations operating under the CCB umbrella) because they were not operated "primarily for religious purposes." CCB sought exemption from Wisconsin's unemployment tax but the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Catholic Charities Bureau is not churchy enough.  This, even though the Wisconsin Diocese controls and operates the CCB, and all separate organizations under CCB's general supervision are required to comply with CCB guidelines.  Those guidelines don't require adherence to or preaching of Catholic doctrine but merely that sub-agents practice good altruism, such as serving all comers without discrimination.  None of the guidelines require the separate CCB-approved and loosely controlled agents to proselytize.

The lower courts ruled that neither the CCB nor the subagents were operated for "primarily for religious purposes" within the statute's intended meaning because they didn't preach, teach or otherwise proselytize.  The Wisconsin Supreme Court, affirmed explaining that operating "primarily for religious purposes" means organizations federal law considers churches.  Plain old "religious organizations" don't get "church" status for purposes of Wisconsin's unemployment tax exemption.  At best, CCB and the organizations might just be considered "religious organizations" under federal law.  Religious organizations don't get extra special dispensation under federal tax law that churches get.

So far there are 8 amicus briefs supporting the cert petition from a wide variety of groups, including The Catholic Conferences of Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota, the Wisconsin State legislature, a group of Religious Liberty Scholars, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod,  the National Association of Evangelicals, Hands for Kids After School Ministry, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention, The Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and the Sikh Coalition. ...

The problem, it seems to me, is that when a legislature grants special dispensation to organized worshippers — whether it calls them "religious organizations" or "churches" — it must necessarily define the universe of eligible organized worshippers.  Otherwise, the dispensation must be provided to all who assert a spiritual motivation.  So long as the legislature defines organized worshippers by reference to objective content neutral criteria ("we don't care what you teach, preach or proselytize, but you must at least do that much"), it should not be unconstitutional to limit the dispensation to organizations that fit the definition.  What am I missing here?

Becket, Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission:

The Wisconsin court of appeals’ decision is deeply problematic. By separating Catholic Charities from the Diocese, the court ignored the Catholic Church’s determination regarding how to structure their own religious ministry. By concluding that Catholic Charities’ activities are not religious because Catholic Charities serves all those in need and doesn’t proselytize, the court penalized faiths that make caring for those in need—regardless of their religious background—a religious obligation. And, by engaging in a standardless inquiry to determine “how religious” Catholic Charities and their subsidiary ministries are, the court of appeals entangled secular courts in deeply religious questions, violating the separation of church and state.

This outcome was wholly avoidable. Wisconsin’s unemployment compensation statute, Wisconsin’s Constitution, and the U.S. Constitution all require that courts look to the undisputed religious purpose of the Diocese of Superior when determining whether Catholic Charities qualifies for a religious exemption from the State’s unemployment compensation program.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s decision and held that Catholic Charities’ ministry to the poor and needy was not religious. On August 9, 2024, Catholic Charities asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the decision.

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