CHURCH'S LEGAL BATTLE CONTINUES ON NUMEROUS FRONTS
Pastor's Report Staff
Although the Church's legal battle with the state of California is not now directly interfering with the day-to-day operations of the Work of God, and we are no longer seeing the bold newspaper headlines of the past several months which were especially in evidence in Southern California, the Church is still involved in considerable activity in the courts.
The Church presently has four appeals in the appellate courts, two petitions for hearings in the California Supreme Court and a petition for a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. Each of these legal actions involve different aspects of the overall case. The Church's attorneys consider each of them absolutely necessary to protect the rights and freedoms of the Worldwide Church of God which are guaranteed by the Constitution.
These appeals and petitions are in addition to a flurry of other legal activities which transpire almost daily (deposition of witnesses, obtaining of documents and various other motions before the judges, etc.). Thus, while there is no clashing of wills and cross-purposes as the Church's attorneys wage an unrelenting battle with the Deputy Attorneys General to keep the state out of Church affairs.