Conservative Episcopalians have come out in support of a proposed Virginia law that would allow them to leave the denomination and take their church property with them.
The proposed law, if passed, would allow churches in the country's largest Episcopal diocese to leave the denomination. Several large Virginia parishes have been flagships of conservative resistance to an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.
The proposed law would overturn decades of legal precedent that says local parishes hold their property “in trust” for their denominations. That provision has forced many disgruntled parishes to stay despite anger over the election of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson.
The Episcopal bishop of Virginia, Peter Lee, voted to support Robinson's election.
The Atlanta-based American Anglican Council said the law would prevent different judges from imposing different decisions on, for example, a breakaway Lutheran church versus a breakaway Episcopal church.
“This bill actually serves to protect all churches and denominations from potentially inconsistent judicial decisions with regard to church property issues,” the group said in a statement.
Churches could keep their property under the proposed law once 10 parishes-or 10 percent of a diocese-vote to secede, unless a deed specifies otherwise. Several churches and church-state groups said the law would entangle government in internal church disputes.
“The First Amendment clearly protects churches from this type of intrusion by the government,” said Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Bill Mims, attends a new Episcopal parish in Ashburn, Va., that is a satellite of Truro Church, a conservative bastion that is an affiliate parish of the American Anglican Council.
Mims told The Washington Post his church did not push for the bill, although it supports it. His pastor, Clancy Nixon, said the church-state issues are a red herring.
“They say it's about states interfering with internal church matters,” he told The Post. “I think that's baloney. It's all about property.”
Religion News Service