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AI and I: Freestaters and Religious Freedom

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

What do you think? Would the Amish be a good group to attract to NH?— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) October 8, 2026

I’m looking for NH supreme court cases about religious freedom brought in the past 20 years. If memory serves me, there were 3 brought by freestaters (may not all have gone to the NH SC)… one was The Church of the Sword, one was the Free Keene Church (? Mark Edgington or Ian Freeman) and one out of Grafton… not sure of church name rn, but the church partially burnt down iirc… can you find me comprehensive details, including links to the suits?

From GROK:

Your recollection matches three related Free State Project-linked efforts from about 2014–2016. All sought religious property-tax exemptions under RSA 72:23 (parsonage or house of worship) after local denials and raised religious-freedom arguments. Only one reached the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

1. The Church of the Sword v. Town of Westmoreland (the one that reached the NH Supreme Court)

  • Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Case No. 2015-0250. Order issued December 14, 2015 (no formal published opinion; summary affirmance). Superior Court (Cheshire County, Kissinger, J.) had granted the town summary judgment earlier in 2015.
  • Parties/background: Nonprofit incorporated in New Hampshire as a church. Members described beliefs in lifelong learning, self-ownership, independent thought, and Part I, Article 10 of the NH Constitution (right of revolution). Weekly services included sword confrontation, announcements, communion, readings, instrumentals, offertory, and pie. Foundational texts included The Book of Five Rings, Tao Te Ching, The Art of War, and a work by Max Stirner. Pastors had to run a service, organize an event, and win six of ten sword bouts. In April 2014 it sought a parsonage exemption for property at 1114 Route 12 in Westmoreland (assessed around $150,000).
  • Holding: Affirmed. The church failed to prove the property was owned, used, and occupied directly for religious purposes by a “regularly recognized and constituted denomination, creed, or sect” under RSA 72:23, III. The court agreed the organization did more than simply apply religious vocabulary to non-religious beliefs and practices; it declined to expand the statutory definition of religion or adopt an IRS multi-factor church test. Constitutional arguments (including entanglement) were not reached or were rejected as undeveloped. Justices Dalianis, Hicks, Conboy, Lynn, and Bassett concurred.
  • Links:

2. Shire Free Church: Monadnock (Free Keene / Ian Freeman, Mark Edgington, Darryl Perry, others) v. City of Keene

3. Peaceful Assembly Church v. Town of Grafton (the burned church)

  • Court: Grafton County Superior Court (and an earlier Board of Tax and Land Appeals docket). It did not produce a New Hampshire Supreme Court decision on the exemption.
  • Parties/background: John Connell (a Free State Project participant) bought the historic Grafton Center Meetinghouse (c. 1798, 860 Main Street / Route 4) around 2010 and operated it as Peaceful Assembly Church. The town denied religious exemptions for years, citing lack of affiliation with an established denomination and questions about community benefit / IRS status. A 2012 BTLA appeal (Docket 26926-12EX) was dismissed because Connell, not the church entity, owned the property on the April 1 assessment date. A 2014 superior-court complaint challenged the denial under RSA 72:23.
  • Fire and settlement: On January 12, 2016, a fire severely damaged the building and killed Connell (age 57; smoke inhalation). In May 2016 the parties settled in superior court: the town agreed Peaceful Assembly “is a regularly recognized and constituted religious creed and sect,” abated back taxes (previously claimed around $14,000), and the church agreed to make the building weather-tight by December 2016, complete most exterior work by December 2017, and finish exterior work by December 2019, or else pay the abated amount in lieu of taxes.
  • Later enforcement: The church did not meet the repair deadlines. In April 2019 Judge Peter Bornstein ordered it to pay roughly $8,146 in back taxes plus $2,200 in attorney’s fees (about $10,000 total). The burned shell remained a local preservation concern.
  • Links:

These three were coordinated in the sense that Free Keene and related activists publicized them together in 2014–2015 as religious-liberty challenges to local tax assessors. Full superior-court dockets are not freely posted online; the PDFs above are the complaint and early orders that the parties themselves published. Official case files can be requested from the Cheshire and Grafton superior courts.

A separate, higher-profile NH Supreme Court religious-freedom decision in the same period is State v. Mack, No. 2019-0171 (Dec. 22, 2020), which held that Part I, Article 5 requires strict scrutiny when government burdens sincere religious exercise (there, sacramental psilocybin). That case was not a Free Stater church tax case.

From ChatGPT:

Yes—you remembered the three correctly. They were Church of the Sword, Shire Free Church: Monadnock, and Peaceful Assembly Church in Grafton. A September 5, 2014 announcement actually names all three together and links to two of their complaints. These were religious property-tax exemption disputes, with statutory and constitutional arguments about religious freedom. Free Keene

I confirmed that Church of the Sword reached the NH Supreme Court. I located lower-court proceedings for the other two, but have not verified an NH Supreme Court appeal for either.

Church / casePeople you may rememberProceedings locatedVerified outcome
The Church of the Sword v. Town of WestmorelandKevin Bloom; Kirk McNeil; attorney Daniel HynesCheshire Superior Court → NH Supreme Court, No. 2015-0250Exemption denial affirmed December 14, 2015
Shire Free Church: Monadnock v. City of KeeneBoth Mark Edgington and Ian Freeman, plus Darryl W. Perry and Jay DenonvilleCheshire Superior Court complaint dated August 27, 2014Complaint verified; final disposition not located
Peaceful Assembly Church v. Town of GraftonJohn Connell; attorney Brandon D. RossEarlier Board of Tax and Land Appeals proceeding; Grafton Superior Court complaint dated August 27, 2014Reported 2016 exemption settlement; subsequent 2019 ruling favored town over back taxes and related costs

The table draws on the actual Sword order, the original complaints, and reporting on Grafton’s settlements. Counsel Stack

1. The Church of the Sword v. Town of Westmoreland

The church applied in April 2014 for a religious exemption under RSA 72:23, III, identifying its Westmoreland property as a parsonage. Westmoreland denied it; Superior Court Judge Kissinger granted summary judgment to the town.

The Supreme Court heard argument on October 15, 2015. Attorney Daniel Hynes represented the church. Its objections included the treatment of a new, nontheistic religion and the government’s authority to judge whether its beliefs qualified as religious. Counsel Stack

On December 14, 2015, all five participating justices affirmed in a four-page order. The court held that the church had not demonstrated entitlement to the statutory exemption and agreed that merely applying religious terminology to practices did not establish eligibility. It declined to adopt an expanded definition of religion or an IRS-style multifactor test. It also rejected the discovery objection and found no impermissible evaluation of the merits of the church’s beliefs. This was an unpublished order, rather than a formal reported opinion. Counsel Stack

Direct sources:

2. Shire Free Church: Monadnock v. City of Keene

This is the “Free Keene Church” you remembered, and both names were right. The complaint’s signature blocks list Mark Edgington, Ian Freeman, Darryl W. Perry, and Jay Denonville, each as a minister.

The six-page complaint, dated August 27, 2014, sought to overturn denial of a parsonage exemption for 73–75 Leverett Street, a duplex conveyed to the church in February 2013. It invoked:

  • NH Constitution, Part I, Articles 4, 5, and 10: conscience, religious freedom, and resistance to arbitrary power.
  • The First Amendment.
  • RSA 72:23 and voluntary payments in lieu of taxes under RSA 72:23-n.

It alleged discriminatory questioning and viewpoint discrimination, particularly an assessor’s suggestion that activism conflicted with church status. It requested exemption of the entire property and acceptance of voluntary payments. These are the plaintiffs’ allegations and requested remedies, not findings that a court accepted. freekeene.com

Direct sources:

The remaining gap: the publicly posted complaint leaves the case-number field blank. I did not locate a final judgment or verified Supreme Court docket for this 2014 action. Later reporting still described the church as having been denied exemption, but that does not establish how this particular lawsuit ended. New Hampshire Public Radio

3. Peaceful Assembly Church v. Town of Grafton

This is the church damaged by fire. Its founder and pastor, John Connell, died in the January 12, 2016 fire. Contemporary reporting said he died of smoke inhalation; the church was already engaged in a prolonged exemption dispute. The Salem News

There were several stages:

  • Earlier administrative appeal: Peaceful Assembly Church v. Town of Grafton, BTLA No. 26926-12EX, concerned the 2012 tax year. Indexed official decisions indicate dismissal based on the church’s failure to satisfy the property-ownership requirement, followed by denial of reconsideration. I located the official PDFs, although their server blocked full retrieval. mm.nh.gov
  • 2014 Superior Court complaint: Attorney Brandon D. Ross sought exemption and abatement of the 2014 taxes for 860 Main Street. The complaint said the congregation began in June 2010, incorporated in 2013, and subsequently received title to the property. It alleged that the town’s own counsel recommended granting exemption, while its assessing agent relied on the absence of IRS recognition. It also alleged that selectmen improperly considered the church’s community contributions and the town’s revenue needs. The board denied exemption 2–1 on June 30, 2014. freekeene.com
  • 2016 settlement: Following Connell’s death, the parties reportedly agreed to recognize the church as a qualifying religious organization and abate outstanding taxes, in exchange for specified building-repair deadlines. This was a negotiated resolution, not a Supreme Court religious-freedom ruling. Free Keene
  • 2019 aftermath: A subsequent dispute over the repair agreement resulted in a ruling favoring the town, with approximately $20,000 in back taxes, legal fees, and interest reported. Thus, describing the litigation simply as “the church won” misses the later proceedings. wcax.com

Direct sources:

The posted Superior Court complaint also has an incomplete docket number. I did not locate the signed 2016 settlement, the 2019 order itself, or a verified NH Supreme Court appeal.

Other relevant NH Supreme Court decisions within your twenty-year window

These are useful additions to the three you recalled; I have not established a Free Stater connection for them.

DecisionReligious-freedom issue and resultOpinion
State v. Mack, No. 2019-0171, December 22, 2020Religious possession/use of psilocybin mushrooms. The court held that Article 5 requires a compelling-interest balancing test, vacated the trial court’s order, and remanded. It did not grant a blanket religious exemption for mushrooms.Full opinion
Appeal of Liberty Assembly of God, No. 2011-368, May 22, 2012Whether a church’s entire property must be exempt and whether room-by-room examination creates unconstitutional religious entanglement. The court upheld partial taxation based on actual use.Full opinion
Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese in NH v. Town of Durham, No. 2015-0671, 2016Church-owned parking spaces leased to UNH students. The court upheld denial of exemption for those spaces because their direct religious use was insufficient.Full opinion

These holdings are supported by the opinions themselves. law.justia.com

For your original three, the key unresolved research item is Keene’s final disposition. The originals establish exactly who sued and what they argued; completing the procedural history would require the Cheshire and Grafton Superior Court docket files, particularly Keene’s judgment and Grafton’s signed settlement and enforcement order.

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