Court Opinion

ID: 9851006
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:05:41.470821+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:46.903363
License: Public Domain

MOSK, J., Concurring
My opinion prepared for the court holds as a matter of statutory construction that Penal Code section 270 (hereafter section 270) provides no religious defense to charges arising under the manslaughter and felony child-endangerment statutes. Because of this holding, the majority chose not to reach the Attorney General’s separate contention that an extension of section 270’s religious exemption to this felony prosecution would import into the proceeding a defense that offends the establishment clauses of the state and federal Constitutions. The issue, however, has been timely raised and thoroughly briefed, and its importance is manifest. I believe we should address it in this case for the guidance of the Legislature, so that any further legislative efforts to accommodate religious *145practice will comply with this constitutional command. As will appear, in my view the statutory exemption as it now reads plainly violates the establishment clauses.
The California and federal Constitutions admonish the Legislature “to make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” (U.S. Const., 1st Amend.; Cal. Const., art. I, § 4.) Two broad classes of legislation fall under this proscription: laws “affording a uniform benefit to all religions” and laws “that discriminate among religions.” (Larson v. Valente (1982) 456 U.S. 228, 252 [72 L.Ed.2d 33, 52-53, 102 S.Ct. 1673], italics in original.) The constitutionality of the first class of enactments is traditionally measured against three criteria delineated by the United States Supreme Court in Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) 403 U.S. 602 [29 L.Ed.2d 745, 91 S.Ct. 2105]. Under Lemon, a law must first have a secular legislative purpose; second, its principal or primary effect must neither advance nor inhibit religion; and third, it must not foster an excessive governmental entanglement with religion. (Id. at pp. 612-613 [29 L.Ed.2d at pp. 755-756].)
Laws in the second class strike closer to the heart of the establishment clause prohibition and thus require more demanding scrutiny. (Larson v. Valente, supra, 456 U.S. at p. 252 [72 L.Ed.2d at p. 52].) As the Larson court observed, “The clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another.” (Id. at p. 244 [72 L.Ed.2d at p. 47].) The essential attribute of this constitutional dictate is governmental neutrality with respect to matters of faith: “Government in our democracy, state and national, must be neutral in matters of religious theory, doctrine, and practice. It may not be hostile to any religion or to the advocacy of no-religion; and it may not aid, foster, or promote one religion or religious theory against another or even against the militant opposite. The First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion.” (Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) 393 U.S. 97, 103-104 [21 L.Ed.2d 228, 234, 89 S.Ct. 266].)1 If a law effects a preference among religions, the governmental policy is presumptively suspect and subject to strict scrutiny. (Larson v. Valente, supra, 456 U.S. at p.246 [72 L.Ed.2d at p. 49].)
The court in Larson considered a provision exempting from the reporting and registration requirements of a charitable solicitations act only those *146religious organizations receiving over 50 percent of their contributions from members or affiliated organizations. (Id. at p. 231 [72 L.Ed.2d at p. 39].) By plainly discriminating among religions in the allocation of the statutory exemption, the provision granted a denominational preference requiring strict scrutiny. (Id. at p. 246.) While acknowledging that the state had “a significant interest in protecting its citizens from abusive practices in the solicitation of funds for charity, and that this interest retains importance when the solicitation is conducted by a religious organization” (id. at p. 248 [72 L.Ed.2d at p. 50]), the court nonetheless determined that the 50 percent rule was not sufficiently tailored to the statutory objective to withstand constitutional scrutiny. (Id. at p. 251 [72 L.Ed.2d at p. 52].)
Section 270 similarly allocates its religious benefit on a selective basis. The statute excludes from criminal liability any parent who provides a minor with “treatment by spiritual means through prayer alone in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination, by a duly-accredited practitioner thereof’’'' (Italics added.) The provision thus affords no protection for parents who otherwise treat their children “by spiritual means through prayer alone.” Specifically denied the exemption are (1) parents not affiliated with a “recognized” church or religious denomination who nonetheless provide prayer treatment on the basis of personal religious beliefs or the teachings of an unrecognized sect, and (2) parents who provide prayer treatment in accordance with the tenets of a recognized denomination that does not “accredit” prayer “practitioners.”
These excluded believers are not the fanciful product of a strained reading of the statutory language. In People v. Arnold (1967) 66 Cal.2d 438 [58 Cal.Rptr. 115, 426 P.2d 515], this court considered a religious exemption claimed under section 270 by a member of “the Church of the First Born,” described as “a religious group believing in faith healing.” (Id. at p. 442, fn. 1.) Whether, and on what basis, a court would determine that the Church of the First Born constitutes a “recognized” religion is a serious question not easily answered.2 Furthermore, while the opinion in Arnold states that members of the group prayed with the defendant for a cure, there is no indication that they were “duly accredited practitioner[s]” of prayer treatment. *147{Ibid.) If not, Mrs. Arnold would have been denied the current statutory exemption even if the Church of the First Born had been “recognized.” Indeed, certain well-known denominations decline to term anyone a “healer”: “The so-called Pentecostal sects have some members who actively seek and encourage ‘divine intervention,’ but they do not ordinarily perform acts that are thought to ‘heal’ a sick person. In this sense, there are no ‘healers’; the cure is thought to come directly from God.” (Comment, Religious Beliefs and the Criminal Justice System: Some Problems of the Faith Healer (1975) 8 Loyola L.A. L.Rev. at pp. 413-414.)
Also denied the statutory exemption are parents whose use of prayer treatment stems from personal religious beliefs rather than the tenets of a recognized church or denomination. In other jurisdictions such parents have repeatedly prevailed on establishment and equal protection grounds against similarly formulated provisions. In Davis v. State (1982) 294 Md. 370 [451 A.2d 107], the court considered a challenge to a compulsory immunization statute exempting children whose parents objected because the procedure “‘conflicts with the tenets and practice of a recognized church or religious denomination of which he is an adherent or member ....’” {Id. at pp. 108-109, italics deleted.) The plaintiff “rested his objection [to the immunization] on his personal religious views rather than the tenets of any recognized church or religious denomination of which he was a member or adherent.” (Id. at p. 109.) In Dalli v. Board of Education (1971) 358 Mass. 753 [267 N.E.2d 219], the plaintiff fell outside a similar exception to a compulsory immunization statute because she objected on the basis of “her personal ‘belief in the Bible, and its teachings.’ ” (Id. at p. 220.) Finally, the court in Brown v. Stone (Miss. 1979) 378 So.2d 218, certiorari denied 449 U.S. 887 [66 L.Ed.2d 112, 101 S.Ct. 242], considered the claim of a parent whose minister submitted the following statement: “ ‘Be it known that the [Cjhurch of Christ as a religious body does not teach against the use of . . . immunizations or vaccinations .... However, [plaintiff] who is a member of the . . . Church of Christ . . . does have strong convictions against the use of any kind of medications and we respect his views.’ ” (Id. at pp. 219-220; see also Maier v. Besser (1972) 73 Mise.2d 241 [341 N.Y.S.2d 411, 412]; cf. Lewis v. Califano (3d Cir. 1980) 616 F.2d 73, 75.) Were these parents charged with failure to furnish medical attendance under section 270, they would face conviction regardless of their alternative provision of “treatment by spiritual means through prayer alone.”
The one group of parents squarely protected by the terms of the statute are Christian Scientists, whose denomination sponsored the 1976 amendment to section 270 enacting its religious exemption. It is thus more than fortuity that the word “practitioner,” used by Christian Scientists to formal*148ly designate their healers, also appears in section 270 to describe the required providers of the exempted treatment. As the analysis of the amendment prepared for the Senate Committee on Judiciary frankly observed, the purpose of the legislation was to “Ensure that no parent who uses Christian Science methods to heal his or her child shall be liable for not providing recognized medical attention for the children.” (Sen. Com. on Judiciary, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 3843 (1975-1976 Reg. Sess.), italics added; accord, Sen. Democratic Caucus, 3d reading analysis of Assem. Bill No. 3843 (1975-1976 Reg. Sess.).)
By sparing the favored from criminal liability while condemning others for failure to cloak identical conduct in the mantle of a sanctioned denomination or procedure, the religious exemption of section 270 operates without neutrality “in matters of religious theory, doctrine, and practice,” and thus cannot survive in the absence of a compelling state interest in its discriminatory effect. Unlike the exemption in Larson, however, which advanced an independent secular objective, the only discernible state interest in this exemption is religious accommodation per se. While accommodation has been sustained as a legitimate objective when it “reflects nothing more than the governmental obligation of neutrality in the face of religious differences” (Sherbert v. Verner (1963) 374 U.S. 398, 409 [10 L.Ed.2d 965, 83 S.Ct. 1790]), here the accommodation reflects nothing less than a denominational preference in the face of indistinguishable religious conduct. Manifestly this is not a compelling objective in the constitutional sense.
If the Legislature wishes to exempt from criminal liability those parents who rely on prayer treatment in lieu of medical care, the establishment clause requires at a minimum that the exemption be granted irrespective of denominational affiliation or practice. (Gillette v. United States (1971) 401 U.S. 437, 454 [28 L.Ed.2d 168, 183, 91 S. Ct. 828]; Lewis v. Califano, supra, 616 F.2d at p. 78 [“The establishment clause requires the government to extend the same benefits it currently extends to Christian Scientists ... to all individuals who sincerely believe in faith healing”]; Developments in the Law: Religion and the State (1987) 100 Harv.L.Rev. 1606, 1738 [“The only legislative accommodations that can withstand establishment clause scrutiny are those that accommodate all religious objectors equally”].)3 The conclusion is thus inescapable that the religious exemption found in section 270 violates the establishment clauses of the California and federal Constitutions. (Accord, Dalli v. Board of Education, supra, 267 N.E.2d at p. 223; Davis v. State, supra, 451 A.2d at pp. 113-114; State v. Miskimens (1984) 22 *149Ohio Misc.2d 43 [490 N.E.2d 931, 934]; Maier v. Besser, supra, 341 N.Y.S.2d at p. 414; Kolbeck v. Kramer (1964) 84 N.J.Super. 569 [202 A.2d 889, 892]; Note, California's Prayer Healing Dilemma (1987) 14 Hastings Const.L.Q. 395, 412-414; Comment, Religious Beliefs and the Criminal Justice System: Some Problems of the Faith Healer (1975) 8 Loyola L.A. L.Rev. 396, 429.)4
The exemption in section 270 is also invalid under the criteria set forth in Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, 403 U.S. at pages 612-613 [29 L.Ed.2d at pages 755-756], even though “the Lemon v. Kurtzman ‘tests’ are intended to apply to laws affording a uniform benefit to all religions, and not to provisions . . . that discriminate among religions.” (Larson v. Valente, supra, 456 U.S. at p. 252 [72 L.Ed.2d at pp. 52-53], italics in original, fn. omitted.) As noted above, Lemon requires that a statute (1) have a secular purpose, (2) neither advance nor inhibit religion, and (3) foster no excessive entanglement between government and religion.
I have already observed that the accommodative purpose of this statutory exemption reflects a nonsecular preference among adherents of prayer treatment rather than a neutral governmental response to genuine religious differences. While one might charitably argue that the exemption has the effect of identifying indicia of sincere religious conduct, thus facilitating administration of the statute, discrimination subject to the strictest scrutiny *150cannot be justified on the basis of administrative convenience alone. (Cf. Frontiero v. Richardson (1973) 411 U.S. 677, 690 [36 L.Ed.2d 583, 594, 93 S.Ct. 1764].) Furthermore, the indicia are underinclusive and more likely to complicate rather than facilitate administration by requiring theological and social judgments that law enforcement officials and courts are not equipped to make. These administrative complications are closely linked to the troubling entanglement of church and state that the provision invites and Lemon forbids.
To apply section 270, law enforcement officials and courts are required to evaluate “the tenets and practices” of various religions, searching for a doctrinal sanction of “spiritual treatment by prayer alone”; they are called upon to consider whether individual healers have been “duly accredited” by a particular denomination; and most disturbing, they are required to ascertain whether a particular religious group is “recognized.” This last inquiry requires prosecutors and law enforcement officials to judge in their discretion whether a particular religious group has reached the critical mass of size and acceptance necessary for statutory protection, and leaves courts with nothing but subjective experience and belief to guide the required determination.
The assistant legal affairs secretary to the Governor clearly anticipated the foregoing troubling scenario in her preenactment analysis of the 1976 amendment to section 270: “The bill requires that the religion or denomination be ‘recognized.’ No further definition is provided. While this would constitute a severe problem in the medical emergency situation, it would not present a problem where there is sufficient opportunity to argue the problem of religion.” It is precisely the entangling prospect of public officials arguing “the problem of religion” as an aspect of their ongoing enforcement of section 270, coupled with the politically divisive implications of their judgments, that the establishment clause seeks to avert. (Larson v. Valente, supra, 456 U.S. at pp. 252-255 [72 L.Ed.2d at pp. 52-55].)
Defendant maintains that even if the statutory exemption violates the establishment clause, courts should nevertheless construe it in an edited fashion to avert the constitutional difficulties raised by its facially preferential language. This cannot be done. It is of course fundamental that “If feasible within bounds set by their words and purposes, statutes should be construed to preserve their constitutionality.” (Conservatorship of Hofferber (1980) 28 Cal.3d 161, 175 [167 Cal.Rptr. 854, 616 P.2d 836].) This is a limited interpretive function, however, and in no way delegates to courts the authority to rewrite the work of the Legislature. As Justice Tobriner observed with respect to the constitutionality of another provision of section 270, “If elimination of objectionable parts of a statute requires a wholesale *151rewriting, a court’s attempt to do so transgresses both the legislative intent and the judicial function.” (In re King (1970) 3 Cal.3d 226, 237 [90 Cal.Rptr. 15, 474 P.2d 983], cert. den. 403 U.S. 931 [29 L.Ed.2d 709, 91 S.Ct. 2249]; sec Metromedia, Inc. v. City of San Diego (1982) 32 Cal.3d 180, 187 [185 Cal.Rptr. 260, 649 P.2d 902].) Here, too, the unconstitutional aspect of the statute so clearly manifests a particular legislative intent that its elimination would amount to amendment by judicial fiat.
The Legislature has repeatedly designed statutory exemptions for parental use of prayer treatment with precisely the language found in section 270. Welfare and Institutions Code section 16509.1 excludes from its definition of neglect the provision of “treatment solely by spiritual means through prayer alone in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination by a duly accredited practitioner thereof . . . .” Section 11165.2 of the Penal Code and Welfare and Institutions Code section 18950.5 incorporate this definition by reference in their separate provisions defining the relationship of prayer treatment to child abuse and neglect. Finally, newly amended Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 adopts the language nearly verbatim in its provision defining the relationship of prayer treatment to child dependency proceedings. (See also Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5006.) Repeated use of the precise language evinces a legislative affinity for an invalid formulation that cannot be ignored.
Had the Legislature confronted the choice of extending its religious exemption to all parents who sincerely rely on prayer treatment, no matter how unorthodox or unconventional their creed may appear, or alternatively to none at all, one cannot presume that it would have chosen the former rather than the latter option. The statutory provision thus must be considered as written. If the Legislature seeks to accommodate the practice of prayer treatment, it must more clearly evince its intent to do so in a nonpreferential manner to avert the fatal constitutional defects afflicting section 270.
Kaufman, J., concurred.

Under the California Constitution this value is explicit. Article I, section 4, assures that “free exercise and enjoyment of religion without discrimination or preference are guaranteed.” In view of this provision, “Preference thus is forbidden even when there is no discrimination.” (Fox v. City of Los Angeles (1978) 22 Cal.3d 792, 796 [150 Cal.Rptr. 867, 587 P.2d 663].) The establishment clause of the California Constitution must be read in conjunction with this unqualified constitutional prohibition against religious preference to appreciate the full scope of its independent protections.

 Consider for example the case of Arthur Charles Grady, who was described in another case as “a self-styled ‘peyote preacher’ and ‘way shower.’ ” (In re Grady (1964) 61 Cal.2d 887, 888 [39 Cal.Rptr. 912, 394 P.2d 728].) Grady “acted as the spiritual leader of a group of individuals consisting of [five] codefendants and himself. This group lived together in [the home of a codefendant]. Although [Grady] did not share in the living expenses of the group, he selected their food, taught them deepbreathing exercises, how to pray, ‘and in general how to love the Christian life.’ ” (Ibid.) Would this group warrant “recognized” status under the terms of the statutory exemption if its members were instructed by Grady to provide prayer in lieu of medical care to their ill children?

 It is of course a separate question whether a blanket exemption under section 270 for all parents who sincerely provide children with prayer treatment would survive under the establishment clause. However, an exemption discriminating among parents who provide prayer treatment as a matter of sincere religious practice surely amounts to an unconstitutional establishment of religion.

 Defendant and the Church cite three cases in which exemptions reserved for adherents of a “recognized” church or denomination were upheld. (Jaggard v. Comr. of Internal Revenue (8th Cir. 1978) 582 F.2d 1189; Varga v. United States (D.Md. 1979) 467 F.Supp. 1113, affd. (4th Cir. 1980) 618 F.2d 106; Kleid v. Board of Education (W.D.Ky. 1976) 406 F.Supp. 902.) Each is readily distinguishable. Both Varga and Jaggard involved challenges to a statute exempting from the federal self-employment tax those individuals who belong to a recognized religious sect which opposes acceptance of the benefits of any private or public insurance and which provides otherwise for its dependent members. (Jaggard, supra, 582 F.2d at p. 1190; Varga, supra, 467 F.Supp. at p. 1116.) Employing a compelling interest test, the court in Varga found that the governmental distinction was justified: “ ‘The limitation by Congress of the exemption to members of religious sects with established tenets opposed to insurance and which made reasonable provisions for their dependent members was in keeping with the overall welfare purpose of the Social Security Act. This provision provided assurance that those qualifying for the exemption would be otherwise provided for in the event of their dependency.’ ” (Id. at p. 1118; accord, Jaggard v. Comr. of Internal Revenue, supra, 582 F.2d at p. 1190.)
The court in Kleid considered an exemption from a compulsory immunization statute reserved for “members of a nationally recognized and established church or religious denomination.” (Kleid v. Board of Education, supra, 406 F.Supp. at p. 903, fn. 3.) The plaintiff challenged the statute as violative of the establishment clause because it denied its exemption to those who objected to immunization on “ ‘non-religious grounds.’ ” {Id. at p. 904.) The court thus did not consider discrimination among religions; the issue presented involved a religious exemption not otherwise provided for secular objectors. The opinion nowhere mentions the possibility under the statutory language of discrimination among the religious, and as such is inapposite.