Advancing the Kingdom of Yeshua law lesson 2

This particular church, therefore, would so far be a religious establishment by law, a legal force and sanction being given to certain articles in its constitution and administration." James Madison had no difficulty with grasping the fact that the bill was wholly unconstitutional, although the majority in Congress evidently did not. With the Episcopal Church having already declared its intentions, the Virginia state legislature prevented any church from ever incorporating by amending their Constitution to preclude their doing so. To this very day, it is unlawful to incorporate a church in Virginia. Of Madison's historic veto, constitutional law professor John Eidsmoe states in his book, Christianity and the Constitution : His reason was that incorporation [ Non-for profit, Corporate Sole, LLC etc…] was a form of licensing (‘Licit’ legal term) by which government gave churches permission to operate. Therefore, incorporation was superfluous; government has no jurisdictional authority to tell churches they can or cannot operate. Madison's veto set an historic precedent that was seldom departed from, at least up until the turn of the twentieth century. In 1898, New Jersey became the first state to "liberalize" their incorporation laws. The New Jersey state legislature delegated its powers to incorporate to the New Jersey Secretary of State. Rather than issuing corporate charters, the Secretary of State issued "articles of incorporation." All the former impediments to obtaining corporate status were done away with. In order to "compete" with New Jersey, other states quickly followed suit and liberalized their incorporation laws, as well. Soon the mainline church denominations, no longer hindered by state legislators, incorporated. Andrew Carnegie, a wealthy industrialist who sat on the board of directors for the largest Presbyterian denomination (PCUSA), was first to encourage his denomination to incorporate. Carnegie did so not because of all the reasons we hear today. Not once did he ever even mention limited liability protection. Rather, Carnegie spoke highly of the corporation, based upon its alleged "efficiencies." Other industrialist tycoons, such as Cleveland Dodge and John Wanamaker, who sat on the boards of other mainline denominations, also encouraged their denominations to incorporate, based upon their theories of "improved efficiency." This was the industrial age and industrialists had rapidly become "corporate men." In their worldview, the church too must become "modernized," and incorporation was a necessary element of modernization. Eventually, many local churches, encouraged by the example of their denominations, also incorporated. By the mid-twentieth century, incorporation of the church had become the status quo.

President Madison's veto of 1811, and his reasons for that veto have, by and large, been abandoned, if not completely forgotten.

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