Thirty years ago, in Corporation of Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Amos, 483 U.S. 327 (1987), the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that highlighted one of a number of significant differences in the law that applies to religious institutions and their clergy as compared to the law that applies to other not-for-profit and general business corporations and their executives.

In Presiding Bishop, the court upheld the validity of a statutory exception to the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of religion contained in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This article explores that decision and other examples of the law's special treatment of religious institutions and clergy members.

Title VII

Congress has exempted religious institutions such as churches, synagogues, and mosques from much of Title VII's prohibition against employment discrimination on the basis of religion. Specifically, pursuant to §702 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the prohibition against employment discrimination on the basis of religion does not apply to religious organizations “with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such [an organization] of its activities.”