GUINN v. CHURCH OF CHRIST OF COLLINSVILLE

No. 62154.

775 P.2d 766 (1989)

Marian GUINN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The CHURCH OF CHRIST OF COLLINSVILLE, Oklahoma, a non-profit corporation; Allen Cash, Ted Moody and Ron Witten, Defendants-Appellants.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

Rehearing Denied May 9, 1989.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Thomas Dee Frasier, Steven R. Hickman, Messrs. Frasier, Frasier & Gullekson, Tulsa, for plaintiff-appellee.

Deryl L. Gotcher, Roy C. Breedlove, Graydon D. Luthey, Jr., Messrs. Jones, Givens, Gotcher, Doyle & Bogan, and Truman B. Rucker, Jr., King, Rucker & Finnerty, Inc., Tulsa, for defendants-appellants.


OPALA, Vice Chief Justice.

The dispositive first-impression question presented is whether a state forensic inquiry into an alleged tortious act by a religious body against its former member is an unconstitutional usurpation of the church's prerogatives by a secular court and hence prohibited by the First Amendment. We answer in the negative.

I

FACTS

The plaintiff-appellee, Marian Guinn [Parishioner...

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