When Local Churches Secede: Resolving Property Disputes in New York Between Local Churches and Their Parent Denominations

摘要

Recently there has been much press coverage of local churches seceding from their national denomination over questions of church policy. These controversies frequently result in a dispute over who owns the local church building and other properties—the local church, or the national denomination, embodied in a regional hierarchy that exists above the level of the local church. These disputes often end up in the courts.rnIn the landmark case of Presbyterian Church in U.S. v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church? which involved a dispute between a local Presbyterian congregation and its regional Presbytery, the United States Supreme Court held that the First Amendment did not prohibit courts from entertaining purely property disputes if they could do so without being required to resolve any underlying controversy over religious doctrine. The Court enunciated the "neutral principles of law" analysis, saying the courts are free to resolve these property disputes by using those principles which have been developed for use in all property disputes and which can be applied without becoming entangled in religious doctrine. In a later case, the Court stated that the state courts are allowed to apply either this "neutral principles of law" analysis or instead defer to a hierarchical church organization's internal authority.