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Policy Briefing - Church Property
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy - www.virginiainterfaithcenter.org
SB1305 – Religious references; determination of property rights upon division of church, diocese or society.
The Virginia Interfaith Center and Virginia Council of Churches OPPOSES SB1305 (Mims, Martin, Ruff, O’Brian) which seeks to alter Virginia code sections relating to property disputes resulting from church splits. The Bill addresses situations when churches attempt to leave a Communion, and the resulting transfer of assets and properties.
Action – The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and its protestant judicatories would like to stop SB1305 on the floor of the Senate for a period of at least one (1) year in order to provide a proper amount of time for church legal teams to work with the patrons in order to clarify the Virginia code section without disrupting the established and proven relationships of churches to their founding institutions.
Issue
The bill raises major concerns for the faith community:
Constitutionality – The bill would likely be unconstitutional because it interferes with the hierarchy of certain churches and establishes that the Commonwealth of Virginia can influence institutional polity. The seminal case is Serbian Eastern Orthodox Church v. Milivojevich (1976). The case outcome directs that when a court decides a property dispute involving nuances of church doctrine, it must defer to the "highest ecclesiastical tribunal within the church or hierarchical polity." The polity of faith-based institutions cannot be dictated or influenced by the State.
Example: If the Episcopal Church has rules about how congregations are removed or added to the diocese, the state can not establish alternative rules including ways that properties are established, held, and disputed.
Authority – The polity of a church, diocese, or society is inherently linked to membership in a recognized movement, denomination, or religious institution. Congregationalist churches promote traditions and statutes stipulating the autonomy of their own structure. They are independent by creation, design, and action. More “hierarchical” faith groups have crafted clear operating frameworks over hundreds of years. The stipulations directly address the relationship of parish to diocese or “denomination” including in property disputes.
SB1305 convolutes the traditional authority directives of the more hierarchical churches by legislating that localized entities of a church may act in congregational authority even when contrary to the tradition or practice of the founding body of the congregation. In an attempt to clarify, the bill confuses the role of parish and institution in ways that are inappropriate and actually would encourage schism and split.
Practical Working – SB1305 is written in such a way that would actually increase the strain on courts given the broad credence it gives to congregations to challenge the authority of their own “mother church.” While clarity was the intention of the patron it is likely that the opportunity for disgruntled parishes to act contrary to their own policy will cause more schisms and increase disputes for property and assets. The result is clogged courts and community tensions.
Bill Link: SB 1305 Religious references; determination of property rights upon division of church, diocese or society.
William C. Mims (all patrons) ..... notes | add to my profiles
Summary as introduced:
Property held for religious purposes; determination of property rights upon division of church, diocese, or society. Provides that upon division of a church or society, the congregation may vote on whether to belong to a different church, diocese, or society, or be independent of any church, diocese, or society. Currently the vote is limited to which branch of the church or society the congregation will belong. The bill also provides that a division of the church, diocese, or society is conclusively presumed when the lesser of 10 congregations or 10 percent of all congregations in the state vote within any 12-month period to separate from the church, diocese, or society, and allows the congregation to report its determination to the appropriate circuit court. In addition, the bill provides that in certain church, diocese, or society property transfers
Full Text - http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?051+ful+SB1305
Faith Communities OPPOSED to this bill include:
- Presbyterian Church (USA) Presbyteries
- Synod of the Mid-Atlantic PCUSA
- Virginia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- Metropolitan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church
- Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church
- Episcopal Diocese of Virginia
- Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia
- Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Virginia
- Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Virginia
Prepared by the Rev. C. Douglas Smith, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
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