MORGANTOWN – Today we look at the third of four constitutional amendments that will be before West Virginia voters in November. It’s the simplest and least controversial of the four amendments and is designed to remove an outdated — and illegal — provision from the Constitution.
Amendment 3 is called the Incorporation of Churches or Religious Denominations Amendment. It was authorized by SJR 4 in 2021 and passed the Senate Senate 32-0 and the House 97-2.
As we reported then, churches incorporate in order to obtain some legal protections, such as liability, and to make it easier to borrow money and purchase property.
The state of Virginia’s Constitution contained a similar clause that was declared unconstitutional by a federal court in 2002 for violating the First Amendment. Virginia and West Virginia were the only two states with such a ban.
Starting in 2003, then-Secretary of State Joe Manchin began granting charters and all subsequent secretaries have done the same. More than 400 had been granted by April 2021 when the resolution was adopted.
State code also allows the granting of charters. The amendment would simply delete the sentence prohibiting the granting of charters from the Constitution and replace it with one saying, “Provisions may also be made by general laws for the incorporation of churches or religious denominations.”
THE AMENDMENT
Summary of Purpose: “To authorize the incorporation of churches or religious denominations.”
Current language:
Article VI. The Legislature.
§47. Incorporation of religious denominations prohibited.
No charter of incorporation shall be granted to any church or religious denomination. Provisions may be made by general laws for securing the title to church property, and for the sale and transfer thereof, so that it shall be held, used, or transferred for the purposes of such church, or religious denomination.
Full text of the proposed amendment:
Article VI. The Legislature.
§47. Incorporation of religious denominations permitted.
Provisions may be made by general laws for securing the title to church property, and for the sale and transfer thereof, so that it shall be held, used, or transferred for the purposes of such church or religious denomination. Provisions may also be made by general laws for the incorporation of churches or religious denominations.
