"A 5-year-old, nontheistic religion founded in New Hampshire – unusually characterized by its reverence for sword fighting and its meeting place, a Concord bar – argued its case for a property tax exemption before the state’s Supreme Court on Thursday.Sorry, Silas. To riff further on "The Big Lebowski," anarchism and nihilism are not the same thing (yet even the nihilists chose to belong to a group)...
The leaders of the Church of the Sword said they were treated unfairly when a Westmoreland home owned by the church and occupied by a pastor was denied tax-exempt status last year. They said it should qualify as a 'parsonage' under state law.
In March, their appeal to the Cheshire County Superior Court was dismissed. The court issued an opinion stating the Church of the Sword 'is neither religious nor a church,' but rather it 'is clearly a social organization that uses religious vocabulary to describe its practices' and that its doctrines 'are far more related to politics and self-improvement than to religion.'
By taking the case to the Supreme Court, the libertarian activists and Free State Project members who comprise church leadership brought themselves to the fore of a trend in the state. At least three newly created churches with Free State Project ties have sought tax exemption in varied court cases in 2014 and 2015. ...
Press
- Liberty activists in high court cases say their newly created religions afford them tax exemptions | Concord Monitor
- Editorial: Tax-free status should be hard-won | Concord Monitor
- Does a Religion Need to Worship a Supreme Being? New Hampshire Supreme Court Considers the Question - Hit & Run : Reason.com
- Church of the Sword Goes to NH Supreme Court | Free State Project
- Sword-fighting libertarian church appears before Supreme Court for tax exemption case | Concord Monitor
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