In the Matter of the Petition by THE CHRISTIANS' HOUR BROADCASTING ASSOCIATION Post Office Box 1001, Cincinnati, Ohio 45201 Denial of Application for Second-Class Mail Privileges for "NEWS OF THE HOUR" P.S. Docket No. 3/95 April 14, 1975 Rudolf Sobernheim Administrative Law Judge APPEARANCES: Robert W. Thomson, Esq. Taft, Stettinius & Hollister 600 Dixie Terminal Building Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 for Petitioner Grayson M. Poats, Esq. Law Department U. S. Postal Service Washington, D. C. 20260 for Respondent
This is a proceeding initiated by Petitioner pursuant to 39 C.F.R. Part 954 to contest the ruling of Respondent, represented by the Manager of the Mail Classification Division, Finance Department (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "Manager"), issued on 20 August 1974, which denied, subject to the outcome of this proceeding, the second-class mail privileges for the "NEWS OF THE HOUR" (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "publication").
The reasons for his ruling were stated by the Manager as follows (Ex. to Pet'r Complt):
"You indicated on Form 3502 (Application for Second-class Mail Privileges) that the Christians' Hour Broadcasting Association (publisher) is a church organization. Form 3502 specifies that a publisher who applies as a church organization to mail its publication at the second-class rates of postage under the provisions of section 132.23, Postal Service Manual, must submit evidence showing that the publication is actually issued by a church organization. Although the Postmaster of Cincinnati, Ohio, advised you that the term 'church organization,' as used in the postal law which is the basis for the regulation under which this application is made, embraces organizational units of an individual congregation and although the Postmaster requested that you furnish evidence that 'News of the Hour' is published by a church organization, you have not furnished such evidence.
Although the Westwood-Cheviot Church of Christ provides office facilities for The Christians' Hour Broadcasting Association and although the Senior Minister of the Westwood-Cheviot Church of Christ serves as Secretary-Treasurer, Announcer and Business Manager of The Christians' Hour Broadcasting Association, you have not furnished evidence that the Association is a part of the Westwood-Cheviot Church of Christ. The articles of incorporation of The Christians' Hour Broadcasting Association, which you submitted as evidence that the Corporation is a church organization, show that the purposes of the Corporation are to promote by radio broadcasting the restoration of the New Testament Church, its doctrine, ordinances and life and to promote the unity of all christians on the Bible and the Bible alone.
Instead of being an organizational unit of an individual congregation, it appears, from the Association's articles of incorporation, that the Association is a separate and independent organization, i.e., organized independently on any New Testament Church or organization of such churches. It is engaged primarily in broad- casting, by radio, the doctrine, ordinances and life of the New Testament Church. (See Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, Inc., Case P.S. Docket No. 1/10, April 6, l972.)
Under the provisions of section 132.36, Postal Service Manual, the Manager, Mail Classification Division, may call on the publisher for additional information or evidence to support or clarify the application. Failure of the publisher to furnish the information requested may be cause for denial of the application as incomplete or, on its face, not fulfilling the requirements for entry. Since you have not furnished evidence showing that 'News of the Hour' is published by a church organization within the meaning of section 132.23, Postal Service Manual, the second-class application for this publication does not fulfill the requirements for second-class mail privileges."
A hearing was thereafter held at Cincinnati, Ohio, at which both parties presented evidence and both parties filed extensive post-hearing briefs.
1. Petitioner is a not-for-profit corporation, established in 1943 under the laws of the State of Ohio (Pet'r Ex. 1).
a. It was formed for the purposes of promoting the restoration of the New Testament Church, its doctrine, ordinances, and life by radio broadcasting and of promoting the unity of all Christians on the Bible and the Bible alone (Pet'r. Ex. 1, Art. Third; Pet'r Ex. 2, Art. VI).
b. The certificate of incorporation named twelve individuals as members of the corporation upon its organization and named the same twelve persons as trustees until the first annual meeting (Pet'r Ex. 1, Art. Fourth, Fifth).
c. The constitution of Petitioner fixes the number of members at twelve and requires them to be members of the Church of Christ (undenominational). It was amended in 1963 to raise the membership to 15 (see Pet'r Ex. 5). Membership is for life unless a member resigns or is suspended or expelled (Pet'r Ex. 2, Art. II). The corporation is governed by a board of twelve trustees ( id ., Art. III).
2. Petitioner is according to its certificate of incorporation and constitution an organization of 15 members (T 33), unaffiliated organizationally with any other organization, corporate or otherwise, church or lay. Petitioner is not subject to control of any church or any organization composed of churches nor is it an organization which is a subsidiary of any church or churches. This mode of organization results from the doctrines of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ which recognizes the autonomous congregation as its only form of ecclesiastical organization (T 26).
3. While Petitioner's members are and are required to be members of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Petitioner does not thereby become an organization of that Church. While the members of the Church believe in a concept of brotherhood as uniting the congregations, professing themselves to be of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, such union is not an organizational one or constituting a church or church organization in a worldly sense (T 26, 27).
4. In June 1972 Petitioner applied for second-class mail privileges for its publication as a church organization (Resp. Ex. 2). The application showed that Petitioner published some 12,700 copies of its July-August 1972 issue of which about 9,500 copies were listed as representing subscriptions from "members" but in fact apparently distributions to area churches supporting Petitioner's activities. The remainder were distributed to "donors supporting the broadcast" (Resp. Ex. 2, lines 22, 23, 28, 30 and 36).
5. In support of its application Petitioner submitted ten letters from ministers or other spokesmen for Christian Church congregations (Resp. Ex. 3, 4) which stated with minor variation in wording that Petitioner had rendered over the years "an effective radio ministry for the religious group known as Christian Churches and Churches of Christ" (Resp. Ex. 4) and that the local church considered this radio ministry as its "outreach" (ltr Westwood-Cheviot Church of Christ, Resp. Ex. 4). An initial negative response to Petitioner's application was made by the Manager on 12 December 1973, which prefigured the decision of 20 August 1974 except for the latter's third paragraph.
6. Subsequent correspondence did not lead to a resolution favorable to Petitioner (Resp. Ex. 6 to 10). The Chairman of the board and congregation of the Westwood-Cheviot Church of Christ could not go beyond the following statement of Petitioner's relation to this church (apparently the one with which it was most closely connected):
"The Christians' Hour is a non-profit religious broadcast and is the church organiza- tion through which Westwood-Cheviot Church of Christ provides a local radio ministry. We provide office facilities, and William Harold Hockley, our Senior Minister, has been authorized by our Board to serve as Secretary-Treasurer, Announcer and Business Manager of The Christians' Hour." (Resp. Ex. 8)
The Manager, however, could not accept this statement as sufficient demonstration that Petitioner was a church organization, as he interpreted the term (Resp. Ex. 9), and the subsequent letter of Petitioner's counsel, dated 1 August 1974, confirms the correctness of the Manager's reading. For, quoting from his own earlier letter (Resp. Ex. 6), counsel again stated:
"Clearly, the Corporation is not a unit of an individual congregatio n."
7. Petitioner also pointed out that "N.A.C.C. Update", the bi-monthly publication of the North American Christian Convention (Pet'r Ex. 7), was granted second-class mail privileges in August 1973 (T 23). However, proceedings looking to their revocation are currently pending (T 24). The Convention is a self-perpetuating (T 26), non-profit association of Christian Churches/Churches of Christ members and organizes periodical national meetings for members of the Church (T 22-23, 25). Those who attend do so as individuals and not as delegates or in any representatives or organizational capacity (T 26).
1. The Postal Service Manual provides in section 132.232 that second-class mail privileges may be granted to "[p]ublications that do not have subscribers" and "contain only the publishers' own advertising" when issued by "churches and church organizations".
2. If Petitioner is a church organization it is entitled to second-class mail privileges for "NEWS OF THE HOUR" and the only issue in this proceeding is whether Petitioner is a church organization.
3. The current Postal Service regulation, quoted in relevant part above, derives from a narrowly remedial statute (39 U.S.C. 4355(a)(9)), adopted in 1955 to relieve local churches of the need to maintain subscribers' lists. It is clear from the oft-considered, though rather succinct, legislative history of the l955 statute that Congress intended to assist primarily local churches and did not intend to, and by its definition of the beneficiaries of its action did not in fact, grant second-class mail privileges to all religious organizations publishing a periodical publication. The administrative decisions of the Postal Service have so held and I see no reason to depart from them. Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, Inc. , P.S. Docket No. 1/10 (9172); World Wide Missionary Crusader, Inc. , P.S. Docket No. 2/107(Initial Dec'n 1974); affirmed by Jud. Off., 18 Mar. 1975). Indeed, the quotations from the legislative record, provided in Petitioner's brief (Br., pp. 12 et seq ., esp. 13-14), confirm this analysis.
4. The term "church organization" in the context of assistance to local churches clearly means (a) organizations which are subsidiary to local churches, (b) organizations of local churches and presumably (c) organizations created by organizations or groups of local churches. It was to the limits of this last type that cautionary language in the initial decision in World Wide Missionary Crusader, Inc. , supra , was addressed.
5. Whatever the doctrinal concepts which guided Petitioner in adopting its organizational structure, it is admittedly not a church organization of the kind defined in the previous paragraph. It is in fact an independent religious organization the publications of which are not covered by PSM 132.232 and would not at any time have been covered by the prior statute, codified as 39 U.S.C. 4355(a)(9).
6. Accordingly, the action of the Manager was correct. It should be upheld and the appeal therefrom denied.