For those states requiring the church the pastor belongs to have "stated and regular services".... you think an official chat service (like say Saturday nights x o'clock pm or whatever) would satisfy that legal requirement? It's an idea... Just thought i'd throw that out there.....
Have to say this is again down to local legislation, and especially in the US, what is OK for some states may not be OK for others.
US law like English Law (particularly there are legislatures for England, and separate for Scotland, so there is no such thing as British Law) is by the letter. This may be varied (in US by state, in England by county or local authority), with bylaws.
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Quote from: ispamforfood on July 20, 2010, 11:06:30 PM
...requiring the church the pastor belongs to have "stated and regular services"....
there will be accepted practice probably backed up by previous case law.
As is always stated I am not a legal professional, please check these opinions with a qualified legal practitioner, in your legislative area.
"there will be accepted practice probably backed up by previous case law."
I doubt there is any... I mean, it's their own fault for making vague laws... "Stated and regular services" makes no mention of whether it can be in a church, over the phone, or online... I doubt very seriously the govt could dispute it as a satisfaction of legal requirements simply because they did not define what constitutes "stated and regular".... They would literally need to pass an amendment to the state's constitution in order to prevent such wide interpretation. I'm just sayin.
Quote from: ispamforfood on July 21, 2010, 11:25:57 PM
....I doubt there is any... I mean, it's their own fault for making vague laws... "Stated and regular services" makes no mention of whether it can be in a church.....
I would be careful.
Allow me to expand, i have studied law quite extensively (Contract, Business, Human Resources, Employee Liability), both as part of my first qualification, and as part of my training as an accountant.
Just because something is logical, does not mean it is legal. My last appearance in court the judge agreed with me that it was a pity it was a court of law not of morals and social conscience, but as such only law applies.
"Stated and regular services" is vague, and as such will only stand to be defined by people being prosecuted, or trying to defend under the specific legislation, i.e. by case action so that judges may make decisions that will be used later to guide other judges in their decisions.
Unfortunately the defense "your law was shittily written" is not one widely recognised under many judicial systems.
England also suffers from badly written laws, a lot of new legislation in England is rushed out due to knee jerk reaction (mostly to news paper campaigns) at the moment, so is equally poorly written, so I sympathise with you.
It is a legal requirement to state that though i have studied many aspects of Law I am not a practicing lawyer or similar legal professional, and all the above is but my personal oppinion.