ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 22, 1996 TAG: 9610220069
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
THE VIRGINIA Constitution's prohibition against incorporation of churches, synagogues and other religious groups is a 19th-century relic that isn't needed to protect religious organizations from the state's meddling in their affairs.
Voters will do no harm - that we can see, anyway - to the wise principle of church-state separation by voting for a proposed constitutional amendment to delete this prohibition.
The deletion would simply give Virginia churches a right that churches enjoy in all states except West Virginia and, currently, Virginia: the right to be designated a nonprofit corporation.
With such a designation, a corporation is regarded by the law as an entity separate from the individuals who are part of it. This means, for instance, that if a church were sued - say, by someone who is injured on church property - the church's members or leaders wouldn't be personally liable. Incorporation could also help clarify issues involving ownership of church property.
Another reason to delete the prohibition: It possibly infringes on the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, because it singles out religious bodies to be excluded from benefits of a general law to which all others are entitled.
The amendment would in no way require that religious groups be incorporated. And there's no reason to believe it would put the state on a slippery slope toward establishment of religion, or churches on a slippery slope toward commercialization or government control.
Whether churches should, for example, pay property taxes is a debate worth having - indeed, overdue. But the proposed amendment has no bearing on that issue. Virginians should vote "yes."
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Among other constitutional amendments on the Nov. 5 ballot:
* A proposal to convert the Virginia Retirement System to an independent trust - its funds to be kept separate from other state revenues and invested solely in the interest of its members and beneficiaries. The intent is to ensure that the General Assembly can't raid or politicize the pension funds of public employees.
There are plenty of ways we might like to direct a portion of the funds back into Virginia - venture capital for start-up businesses, say - but it's not clear that all such investments would be compatible with the trustees' fiduciary responsibilities. Nor, for that matter, would investments in Virginia be necessarily incompatible with trustees' responsibilities. The amendment is worth passing.
* A proposal to permit revision of voter-registration applications in conformity with the so-called motor-voter law. Without the amendment, there's a possibility Virginia would have to keep separate lists of voters, and many voters would be eligible to vote in federal elections but not in state or local elections. That would be ridiculous. Vote for this one, too.
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