Strong, Frank R.

KnowledgeBank at OSU

OHIO STATE LAW JOURNALVolume 20 Summer 1959 Number 3CHURCH LAWFOREWORDFRANK R. STRONG*The last decade has seen much attention given, in court decisionand legal commentary, to the constitutional problems involved inChurch-State relationships under American constitutions. Familiar isEverson v. Board of Education and the ensuing discussion concerningthe extent to which, consistent with constitutional mandate, the Statemay aid in the transportation of parochial pupils. Even more familiaris the celebrated McCollum v. Board of Education decision with itsstrict requirements of complete separation of Church and State, fol-lowed only a few years later by Zorach v. Clauson in which theSupreme Court of the United States retreated from the extreme positionof McCollum. Something of a wall of separation remains, yet it maybe scaled, so to speak, in circumstances where truly important publicinterests outweigh the seriousness of threatened invasions of individualand group religious interests.Under the governmental and social structure of this country, thereexist many other problems of Church-State relationship. Although inthe present state of American constitutional doctrine these problems donot raise constitutional issues, they do present legal issues which are atonce difficult, interesting, and important to both Church and State.Thus there are nice questions concerning the appropriate extent towhich the State should regulate the creation and termination of varioustypes of religious bodies and the extent to which the State should con-cern itself with the internal management, operation, and control ofactive religious organizations. Despite the known existence of theseand analogous problems of a legal nature, concentration of attentionupon the constitutional aspects of Church-State relations has appearedto leave relatively unconsidered these perhaps less spectacular but at thesame time equally significant problems. Sensing the need for a compre-hensive consideration of such questions, this Symposium was organizedwith the active planning assistance of several attorneys conversant withthe issues involved. The Journal is indebted to the contributors whosearticles, both separatel- and together, provide an effective insight into arelatively unexplored tea of the law.*Dean, College of Law, The Ohio State University.

Church Law - Foreword

https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/1811/68175/1/OSLJ_V20N3_0387.pdf

Church Law - Foreword

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

KnowledgeBank at OSU