McClure v. Salvation Army

• Decision Date: 08 March 1971
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 13955.
• Citation: 323 F. Supp. 1100
• Parties: Mrs. Billie B. McCLURE v. The SALVATION ARMY.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia

323 F. Supp. 1100

Mrs. Billie B. McCLURE v. The SALVATION ARMY.

Civ. A. No. 13955.

United States District Court, N. D. Georgia, Atlanta Division.

March 8, 1971.

Haas, Holland, Freeman, Levison & Gilbert, Atlanta, Ga., for plaintiff.

Hansell, Post, Brandon & Dorsey, Atlanta, Ga., for defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER INCLUDING FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

O'KELLEY, District Judge.

The plaintiff, a female officer of the Salvation Army, filed a Complaint pursuant to Title VII, Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e.

The defendant has filed its answer, and along with that, a motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction, inter alia. It argues that it is a religious body or society as contemplated by the statute codified in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-1 and that its activities and that of the officers of the Army are religious in nature and thus exempt under the law.

The pertinent part of that section reads:

"This subchapter shall not apply * * * to a religious corporation, association, or society with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association, or society of its religious activities * * *."

A hearing was held as to that issue on November 23, 1970, and the Court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law based upon the evidence presented at that time.

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

The defendant is a corporation organized in 1927 under the laws of the State of Georgia and formed for the purpose of the location of a church in the County of Fulton, State of Georgia, and for the purpose of promoting the cause of Christian religion, charity and education in other localities throughout the State of Georgia and elsewhere. The Southern Territory of The Salvation Army extends from the border of Pennsylvania down to Guatemala in Central America and is composed of eleven divisions. A division is commanded by a division commander who has a staff and who is responsible to the Territorial Headquarters which for the Southern Territory is located in Atlanta, Georgia. Under the divisions there are corps ranging in number from seven to fifty. There are many corps within the Southern Territory.

The Salvation Army Corps is a family center for the dissemination of the Gospel, for the development of Christian life, and for the outreach in the particular community in which it is located. It is similar to any other church. It has a senior segment, a youth segment or Christian education department, and many other things that other churches have, including a structure for leadership training, and emergency training for disasters. The commanding officer of a corps acts as the "pastor" of the corps, but both the corps commander and every other officer of the Army stationed in the locality perform the function of preaching to the congregation.

The defendant conducts a Daily Vacation Bible School, which is also a normal church function. There is a Home League Department which is the equivalent of training for home service and is particularly for married women. There are senior citizens' clubs in practically every corps. There is also a Salvation Army band unit and a chorus in most of the corps. There is a group of local officers in most corps known as the Corps Council. There is also a group known as the Census Board which operates the affairs of the corps.

The corps is also called upon to do many things outside of its preaching ministry. There is a regular program for the visitation of homes. Food is provided to the needy and referrals of the sick are made to doctors and hospitals and other charitable functions.

There are approximately 1300 officers serving in the Southern Territory. An officer is one who has first received a divine call from God and has been accepted and trained and commissioned as a Salvation Army officer. Being commissioned in The Salvation Army is the equivalent to ordination. Officers of The Salvation Army are not permitted to have any outside employment whatever. Training of the officer consists of a two-year session of training. The officer is equivalent to the clergy of the church and can perform the four major ceremonies of the Army which include the swearing in of soldiers, performing marriages, burials and dedication of children. Salvation Army officers have served as chaplains in World War I, World War II and in Vietnam.

Officers are also divided into two basic classifications as to assignment; field and staff officers. There is no distinction in wages or allowances, but there is a distinction in the duties performed. A field officer has the same common responsibility of a parish priest or of a Presbyterian or Baptist clergyman, being responsible for a congregation. Staff officers are similarly qualified to perform the ceremonies of the church, hold retreats and attend officers' councils, but are assigned specific functions in divisional or territorial headquarters.

While The Salvation Army officer is equivalent to the clergy of another church, the Salvation Army soldier is equivalent to the laity of another church. The Salvation Army has various steps that one must take before coming to soldiership. A person who is not affiliated with any church, who does not claim the Christian experience, must first go through a training program, called training for senior soldiership. Soldier applicants must become familiar with the doctrines, the steps that a person must take before becoming a Christian, must undergo a preliminary probation time, be reviewed by a census board, and then be accepted as a soldier in a ceremony conducted at a public meeting under The Salvation Army flag and under the flag of the Country. This is called the swearing-in ceremony and is used by The Salvation Army as its form of acceptance into the church. A solder is a layman and can be any person of any background in the community.

A person who does not have any other church affiliation, but is not prepared to make a commitment for Christian service and witness as a Christian, but who wants to have his name on a church roll for the purpose of burial, is known as an "adherent." In addition to adherents, there are persons known as "friends" who attend The Salvation Army services, but never become affiliated in any way. Numerous others are affiliated with the Army as "volunteers," lending moral support to The Salvation Army through membership on Advisory Boards and Women's Auxiliaries.

There is also a classification known as "employees," of which there are approximately 3,000 in the Southern Territory. Employees may be of any race, any background, any origin, and they generally bring with them certain needed skills, ranging from doctors to laborers, but they are never commissioned officers of the Army.

The Salvation Army has certain Orders and Regulations which serve as guidelines by which it operates. These Orders and Regulations outline the conduct of individuals, the steps to be taken in the performance of ceremonies, how to conduct meetings, etc. The Salvation Army has its own doctrine which is contained in The Salvation Army Handbook of Doctrine.

The original mission of The Salvation Army has remained unchanged. It is to seek the unsaved, to secure the commitment of those who are determined to live a Christian life, to give such people an opportunity for serving, remembering that membership in The Salvation Army, even as a soldier, imposes a greater burden upon an individual than he would assume by belonging to another church. The Salvation Army encourages the wearing of a uniform regularly and the participation in open air meetings. The soldier is identified by his uniform and marked out as a Salvationist. The Army has four major ceremonies: the swearing-in of soldiers, marriage, burial, and dedication of children. Religious services are held on Sundays and other days. They have all the elements of a Christian witness service. They have a preaching part, congregational singing, scripture reading, prayer and the invitation to the unsaved.

Mrs. Billie B. McClure was enrolled as a Junior Soldier as a child in The Salvation Army, and attended religious meetings and services. Her original application to The Salvation Army, dated 1961, was not approved. She renewed or again presented her application to the Army for officership on or about April 15, 1965. She finished four years of college, going two years to San Angelo Junior College, and finished the remainder of her work at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas, receiving a bachelor of science in elementary education. She received a teacher's certificate from the State of Georgia and is presently engaged in teaching school with the Newton County Education Department in Newton County, Georgia.

Mrs. McClure entered The Salvation Army Officers' Training School in September of 1965. She studied the Bible and doctrine, bookkeeping, and Orders and Regulations for officers. Courses in music, band, songsters, education, religious education, publicity and public relations were also taught, as were certain elective courses, such as creative writing. She was first sent into the field to serve as a Salvation Army Officer (Cadet Lieutenant) in June, 1966; her first assignment was at Camp Hoblitzele in Texas. In August of 1966 she was assigned to Little Rock, Arkansas as Commanding Officer of the Little Rock Citadel Corps. She served in Little Rock from August, 1966, to May, 1967. She was next assigned as Commanding Officer of the Corps at Pascagoula, Mississippi, from June, 1967, to January, 1968. She next served as the Casework Supervisor in the Georgia Division in Atlanta, Georgia, from February 1, 1968, through October, 1969. Her final assignment in The Salvation Army was as a secretary in the Public Relations Department of the Southern Territorial Headquarters. The plaintiff, Mrs. McClure, regarded herself as a minister of the Gospel and as performing a religious...