A church presumably being private property, why would one detect there without permission?? Wouldn’t that be akin to just starting up on somebody’s lawn til they came outside and asked what the heck you are doing?
teotwanki, airmet, princess, etc.... : Everything you're saying technically true. But stop and think for a moment , as to whether or not, IN ACTUAL PRACTICE, there is any difference : The same could be said of shopping centers. But you will notice people coming and going all the time (albeit for the express purpose of shopping). And for churches: People coming and going all the time (albeit for functions, services, etc... that go on there).
When I was a Jr. high kid, the school buss picked up all the kids in our neighborhood, at the edge of a local Baptist Church's lot. That was just where we lined up, to get on the bus. No real "parking strip", per say. But just where the grass just sort of dead-ended at the street.
So ... at about 8th grade, when I got my first detector, and was thinking "where to try this thing ?", I recalled our bus line-up point. And thought that since that had gone on for 30 yrs. up till then, that *certainly* some kids must have dropped some coins. Eh ?
And I was rewarded with some pennies and dimes from the immediate bus load zone. As I cleaned that out, I began to make ever-widening circles of coverage. Till I was probably, actually, out into the church lawn itself. One day, a church janitor emerged and eyed me. Came over and asked what I was doing. He recognized me as a neighborhood kid, shrugged his shoulders, and went back in side.
Would/could this ever happen in someone's private yard ? OF COURSE NOT ! Is there any legal/technical difference ? OF COURSE NOT.