The case involved denial of the Society's application for tax exemption as a religious organization.

Circuit reversed the ruling of the Tax Court for the District Columbia and found that the Society was a religious organization under the Distinct of Columbia Code, 47-801a (1951).

Along with Fellowship of Humanity v. County of Alameda, this was one of the earliest cases establishing the right in the U.S. of nontheistic institutions that function like churches to be treated similarly to theistic religious institutions under the law.

This case is sometimes cited as establishing secular humanism as a religion under the law.

That characterization of the case is disputed by others, for a number of reasons: The decision of the court was written by then-Judge Warren Burger (who was later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court).