You can read the whole decision here ... but if you want to "cut to the chase," here's the bottom line:
More to come ...
Applying the neutral principles of law approach, we conclude that the general church, not the local church, owns the property in question.
More to come ...
8 comments:
TBTG! :-D
Yet to be determined, though, is the status of an entire diocese which separates itself from the national church. That's the next step.
By adopting the neutral principals approach the Court has done its best to deprive the defendants of a First Amendment issue to take to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court went to great lengths to make it clear that the fact the dispute involves church property is entirely secondary and that the same rules should apply under secular property laws to any voluntary association, whether it is the Episcopal Church or the VFW.
http://stjamesnb.org/contact
You know, I was thinking, should I send them an Email saying "Pack!" or could that be construed as gloating?
:-)
Yes.
That would definitely be gloating.
And grateful though I am for this decision, it is not a time for gloating but for putting our energy and time and money toward moving the mission and ministry of this church forward now that we're over the "speed bump" of the litigation wars!
It will be interesting to see what happens in Pittsburgh. I'm praying this decision means TEC can abandon lawsuits and get on with the business of the Gospels - love God, love others, feed, shelter, etc.
Bruce, I always thought the First Amendment "issue" was a straw man at best. In cases like this, all a court is doing is settling title to real and personal property. They're not "establishing" anything and they aren't telling anyone what church they have to belong to, either.
Thanks for flagging this early today. I enjoyed reading the decision to see how logic and reason can be put to good use.
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