Christians v. Crystal Evangelical Free Church (In Re Young)

141 F.3d 854
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedApril 13, 1998
Docket93-2267
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 141 F.3d 854 (Christians v. Crystal Evangelical Free Church (In Re Young)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Christians v. Crystal Evangelical Free Church (In Re Young), 141 F.3d 854 (8th Cir. 1998).

Opinions

MAGILL, Circuit Judge.

In our earlier opinion in this matter we reversed the district court and held that under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000bb to 2000bb-4, bankruptcy debtors’ religious tithes could not be recovered from a church as avoidable transactions in adversary proceedings. See Christians v. Crystal Evangelical Free Church (In re Young), 82 F.3d 1407, 1420 (8th Cir.1996). In City of Boerne v. Flores, _ U.S. _, 117 S.Ct. 2157, 138 L.Ed.2d 624 (1997), the Supreme Court held that RFRA was unconstitutional as applied to state law because Congress had exceeded its enforcement powers under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court subsequently summarily vacated and remanded our decision in Christians for reconsideration in light of Flores. See Christians v. Crystal Evangelical Free Church, _ U.S. _, _, 117 S.Ct. 2502, 2502, 138 L.Ed.2d 1007 (1997). Upon reconsideration, we conclude that, under the Bankruptcy Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I of the Constitution, RFRA is constitutional as applied to federal law. Accordingly, we reinstate our previous decision, and again reverse the district court.

I.

Bruce and Nancy Young are active members of the Crystal Evangelical Free Church [857]*857(the Church). In accordance with their religious beliefs, the Youngs tithed ten percent of their annual income to the Church. While the Church teaches that its members should contribute to support the Church, it does not require payment for attendance or membership, and would provide all services to the Youngs regardless of the amount of their tithes. Between February 1991 and February 1992, the Youngs tithed $13,450.00 to the Church.

The Youngs filed a joint Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in February 1992. Because the Youngs had been insolvent during the previous year, bankruptcy trustee Julia Christians (the Trustee) sought to avoid the Youngs’ tithes to the Church as fraudulent transfers under 11 U.S.C. § 548(a)(2)(A). Both the bankruptcy court and the district court held that the tithes to the church were avoidable transactions, and allowed the Trustee to recover the tithes from the Church.

To avoid the Youngs’ tithes under 11 U.S.C. § 548(a)(2)(A), the Trustee had the burden of proving that “(1) there was a transfer of the debtors’ interest in property (2) made on or within a year preceding the filing of the petition (3) while the debtors were insolvent (4) in exchange for which the debtors received less than reasonably equivalent value.” Christians, 82 F.3d at 1410. The parties stipulated that the first three factors were present. See id. We held that the Trustee had also proven the fourth factor, because the Church did not premise any of its services on the Youngs’ tithes and therefore did not provide anything in exchange for the tithes. See id. at 1415. Accordingly, we held that the Youngs’ tithes would ordinarily be avoidable transactions. See id. at 1416.

We also concluded, however, that allowing the Trustee “recovery of the contributions substantially burdens the debtors’ free exercise of their religion and is not in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and therefore violates the RFRA.” Id. at 1417. Because “RFRA provides a defense against the order of the district court permitting the trustee to avoid the debtors’ contributions to the church,” we held that “[t]he trustee is not entitled to recover $13,450 from the church.” Id. at 1420.

After this Court denied the Trustee’s petition for rehearing en banc, see Christians v. Crystal Evangelical Free Church (In re Young), 89 F.3d 494, 494 (8th Cir.1996), the Supreme Court held that RFRA was unconstitutional as applied to state law. See Flores, _ U.S. at _, 117 S.Ct. at 2172. Subsequently, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in the instant case, vacated our initial opinion, and remanded for reconsideration in light of Flores. See Christians, _ U.S. at _, 117 S.Ct. at 2502. On remand, the Trustee argues that RFRA is unconstitutional as applied to federal law because Congress violated the separation of powers doctrine in enacting the statute and because RFRA violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

II.

A. RFRA and Flores

RFRA was enacted as a legislative response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Employment Div., Dep’t of Human Resources v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 110 S.Ct. 1595, 108 L.Ed.2d 876 (1990). In Smith, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment “right of free exercise [of religion] does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general applicability on the ground that the law proscribes (or prescribes) conduct that his religion prescribes (or proscribes).” Id. at 879, 110 S.Ct. at 1600 (quotations omitted). In reaching this holding, the Supreme Court effectively overruled precedent that had provided greater protection to individuals whose religious practices were burdened by the operation of neutral laws. See id. at 883-85, 110 S.Ct. at 1602-04 (rejecting rule of Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 83 S.Ct. 1790, 10 L.Ed.2d 965 (1963), that “governmental actions that substantially burden a religious practice must be justified by a compelling governmental interest”).

Congress enacted RFRA to limit the Smith decision’s impact on the practice of religious liberties. Congress found that “laws ‘neutral’ toward religion may burden [858]*858religious exercise as surely as laws intended to interfere with religious exercise,” and concluded that “governments should not substantially burden religious exercise without compelling justification.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb(a)(2) & (3). Congress enacted RFRA “to restore the compelling interest test as set forth in Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 83 S.Ct. 1790, 10 L.Ed.2d 965 (1963) and Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972) and to guarantee its application in all cases where free exercise of religion is substantially burdened [and] to provide a claim or defense to persons whose religious exercise is substantially burdened by government.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb(b)(1) & (2).

RFRA codified the compelling interest test of Sherbert and Yoder, and provided that the government could “substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person (1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.” 42 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
141 F.3d 854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/christians-v-crystal-evangelical-free-church-in-re-young-ca8-1998.