Litigation has been raging for several years now as homophobic break away Episcopal parishes have sought to abscond with church properties utilizing an 1860's vintage statute that was enacted to permit pro-slavery Baptist churches to seize properties from the anti-slavery national church. It is a sad commentary that one would use a statute conceived by racists and those who supported continuing to own other humans as chattel, but that is the reality in the far right break away Episcopal parishes seeking to align themselves with reactionary bishops in Africa, at least one (Archbishop Peter Akinola) of who has been potentially implicated in the massacre of 600 Muslim women and children. In my view, it takes perversion of the Gospel message to a whole new obscene level. WTVR-TV in Richmond has coverage on the issue which will place the Supreme Court in a position of determining whether or not Virginia will appear as a reactionary backward state or not. Here are some highlights:*
Today the Virginia Supreme Court will hear arguments in what amounts to a civil war in the Episcopal Church, the oldest church in the nation. The property custody battle between the Episcopal Church Diocese and numerous churches that have split over moral issues isn't a battle between the north and the south, but between the left and the right. The split began several years ago, when the democratic church body voted to ordain on openly gay bishop.
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Bishop Johnston said with most of the retreating churches, the property was paid for or renovated by the Episcopal Church. Bishop Binns agreed that was case with some of the churches, but others had their own deeds or had paid for much of the improvements to the buildings and properties. Negotiations over those custody questions failed, and the case wound up in Fairfax Circuit Court last year.
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The rebelling churches successfully argued that the Virginia Division Statute - http://leg1.state.va.us/000/cod/57-9.HTM - gave the state the right arbitrate this kind of church property dispute. That statute came about at the end of the Civil War. But the Episcopal Church Diocese argues that antiquated law has no current Constitutional basis. What's more, they believe, the Constitution says the state has no right to interfere in church business. Both sides will argue that the right to religious freedom means they should win. "This is a watershed moment," Bishop Johnston said.
Bishop Johnston said with most of the retreating churches, the property was paid for or renovated by the Episcopal Church. Bishop Binns agreed that was case with some of the churches, but others had their own deeds or had paid for much of the improvements to the buildings and properties. Negotiations over those custody questions failed, and the case wound up in Fairfax Circuit Court last year.
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The rebelling churches successfully argued that the Virginia Division Statute - http://leg1.state.va.us/000/cod/57-9.HTM - gave the state the right arbitrate this kind of church property dispute. That statute came about at the end of the Civil War. But the Episcopal Church Diocese argues that antiquated law has no current Constitutional basis. What's more, they believe, the Constitution says the state has no right to interfere in church business. Both sides will argue that the right to religious freedom means they should win. "This is a watershed moment," Bishop Johnston said.
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