In general, any church that is not a corporation is an unincorporated association. The term unincorporated association is defined as any group "whose members share a common purpose, and … who function under a common name under circumstances where fairness requires the group be recognized as a legal entity."[2] Barr v. United Methodist Church, 153 Cal. Rptr. 322, 328 (1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 973 (1980). One court has observed:
A church or religious society may exist for all the purposes for which it was organized independently of any incorporation of the body … and, it is a matter of common knowledge that many do exist and are never incorporated. For the promotion of religion and charity, they may subserve all the purposes of their organization, and generally, need no incorporation except incidentally to further these objects. [3] Murphy v. Taylor, 289 So.2d 584, 586 (Ala. ...
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