§ 23.001.Definitions

Two definitions supporting a short chapter about jurors and observance.

"Religious organization" means an organization meeting the standards for qualification as a religious organization under Section 11.20 of the Tax Code — the provision governing religious property tax exemption.

Borrowing an existing test rather than writing a new one is the sensible move here. Deciding what counts as a religion is constitutionally fraught, and the Tax Code standard is already administered, already litigated, and already familiar.

"Religious holy day" means a day on which the tenets of a religious organization prohibit its members from participating in secular activities, such as court proceedings.

The test is prohibition, not observance, and that is a real limit. A day of significance a member would prefer to spend at worship does not qualify; the tenets must forbid secular participation.

That keeps the chapter narrow, and confines it to the case where attending court would require a person to violate their religious obligations rather than merely to miss something they value.

The reference to the organization’s tenets rather than the individual’s belief is worth noticing. The question is what the religious organization holds, which is answerable by evidence about the faith rather than by an inquiry into the sincerity of one juror.

The recess provision that follows is the operative rule, and a separate provision elsewhere in the code addresses court settings on a religious holy day more generally.