South Ridge Baptist Church v. Industrial Commission of Ohio

ENGEL, Senior Circuit Judge.

This case presents the question of whether a state violates the free exercise and establishment clauses of the first amendment, U.S. Const.Amend. I, in compelling a church to pay premiums into a public workers’ compensation program on behalf of its employees, where the church believes that such payments are sinful. We ultimately hold that although interesting and delicate, this question has effectively been answered in the negative by the Supreme Court. We accordingly affirm the summary judgment against the church, although on somewhat different reasoning than that…