Statue of a Seated Cybele with the Portrait Head of her Priestess
Originally published on Forbes.com Dec 11th, 2013
A lot of people might think that the third week of November was a bad week for religion in the courts. Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that Internal Revenue Code Section 107(2), which allows clergy to receive tax-free cash housing allowances in unlimited amounts, is unconstitutional. Practically simultaneously, though, one religion scored a major victory. Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater, Inc was victorious in its long struggle against the Town of Catskill, New York, thanks to a decision by the Appellate Division of the State of New York Supreme Court.
The Phryganium
Reverend Mother Cathryn Platine is the principal founder of the Cybeline Revival. The principal teaching of the Cybeline Revival is that the “Divine Feminine” is the basis of the universe. Maetreum of Cybele Magna Mater Inc (MCMM)is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service and the State of New York as an exempt religious organization. Rather than a church or a convent MCMM has a Phryganium, where Mother Platine presides as Battakes.
According to the explanation on the website the last time there was a Phryganium before this one was roughly 1600 years ago. That one was in Rome and it was destroyed by the Catholic Church sometime in the fifth century. Mother Platine hopes that the current Phryganium will be the first of many as the Cybeline message gets out.
The Phryganium is located in Palenville, NY. Palenville is a “hamlet” that is part of the Town of Catskill. When Nancy McCoy, Assessor for the Town of Catskill, looked at the Phryganium, she thought she saw a run-down inn that a few women lived in and not much in the way of religion going on. So in her view, the Phryganium and its surrounding property belonged on the tax rolls.
Litigation
The town won the first couple of rounds in court. Dana Eilers is a lawyer and activist for Pagan rights. She is the author of Pagans And The Law – Understand Your Rights. She wrote a critique of the initial decision in favor of the town. She found the decision rather confusing, although she did not get a sense that it was based on discrimination against Pagans. She noted that the Judge did not find the main witness, Mother Platine, that credible – something which the judge, as a trier of fact in this case, was entitled to do.
The Appellate Court noted that MCMM had presented significant testimony on the religious use of the property whereas the Town relied on cross-examination and presumably the fact that MCMM was the one with the burden of proof in the case.
With respect to petitioner’s activities on the property, Platine testified that evening praise is conducted nightly at the altar in the main house’s “sitting room,” new moon and full moon celebrations are conducted “approximately every two weeks” outdoors on the processional paths and in the outdoor temple area, and “entire weekend of activities” are held to celebrate the equinoxes and solstices. The property is also used for certain rituals pertaining to marriage and death, and celebrations pertaining to physical changes in a woman’s lifetime. Platine also testified that she provides religious instruction and spiritual counseling on the property, although Supreme Court found her estimate of 30 hours per week devoted to counseling to be incredible. Other public activities on the property include participation in an annual pagan pride festival, “The All Woman Festival,” “a weekend event where women, primarily pagans, … come … together shar sisterhood,” as well as a weekly open cafe, a monthly pagan brunch and a monthly, more secular, bisexual brunch. These activities take place throughout the main building and in the outdoor temple, two other outdoor areas and along the processional paths, plus some counseling and instruction take place in the caretaker’s cottage. Considering the testimony, petitioner met its burden to demonstrate that it uses the property primarily for its religious and charitable purposes.
Was This Discrimination?
Mother Platine has gone on record that it is her group’s beliefs that created trouble with the assessors. She is quoted in the New York Times as saying
“We’re women oriented,” she said. “We’re goddess oriented. We’re gay and lesbian friendly. We’re witchy. We’re set up for communal living for priestesses. I think we set off a lot of buttons.”
She indicated that the town’s legal arguments kept shifting with animus being the only common thread.
“It’s a mystery to us why this fight continues,” she said. “We’re pretty clearly who we are. And there’s nothing threatening about what we do here. Come on, we’re practically Catholic nuns except we’re willing to have sex.”
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?
I follow cases like this from around the country, which inclines me to think that the Town of Catskill might not have particular ill will towards Pagans. In the case of our deficit-funded federal government, there is not that direct a relationship between exemptions and exclusions either reducing public resources or forcing other taxpayers to pick up the slack. Not so with local governments which heavily rely on property taxes.
You take the total assessed valuation of the town and multiply by a rate and that’s how much money you have to spend. Lower the total assessed valuation and maybe you have to lay off one of the three policemen your town has. If you take the budget as a given you divide it by the total assessed valuation to arrive at the tax rate. Lower the denominator by exempting some property and everybody else is paying a higher rate. There is more to local finance than that, of course, but it is an important element.
You will see local assessors fighting to keep property on the rolls across the country and no religion seems to be exempt from their effort. I follow these cases pretty closely. I have written about a residence for Mormon temple workers in Maryland, a shuttered Catholic parish in Scituate, Mass occupied by disgruntled vigillers, Jewish summer camps in Pennsylvania and a non-denominational mega-church in Tennessee that had a book store and a fitness center on its property. Their fates in the courts varied, but they all encountered local assessors who wanted them on the rolls.
There is a case I never got to writing about that is perhaps as comparable as you can get to the Phryganium. The assessor for the town of West Springfield saw a house with a few women living in it that in the assessor’s view belonged on the tax rolls. The entity that owned the house managed to convince the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board that a Formation House for women interested in becoming members of the Sisters of Providence, a congregation of Roman Catholic nuns that has been caring for the poor and sick in Western Massachusetts since 1873, qualified for exemption.
You can follow me on twitter @peterreillycpa.