On March 4, 2014, the Fourth Section of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) delivered its judgment in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United Kingdom. The Court found that the U.K. had not violated Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience, and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by refusing to grant a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints an exemption from local property taxes given to “place[s] of public religious worship.” According to the press release, the UK had determined that the temple did not qualify, “since access to the temple was restricted to a select group of the most devout followers holding a special authorisation.”

In finding that this did not violate the ECHR, the Court held that “it is open to doubt whether the refusal to accord an exemption…gave rise to any difference of treatment of comparable groups, given that the tax law in question applied in the same way to . . . all religious organisations, including the Church of England in respect of its private chapels.” Moreover, the Court found that any prejudice was “reasonably and objectively justified” because the exemption was introduced “to benefit religious buildings which provided a service to the general public and where the church in question ‘worshipped with open doors.’”

The parties have three months to request a referral to the Grand Chamber.