Washington, D.C. (Map, News) - Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell bucked the opinions of his predecessors by voluntarily entangling himself in a religious property dispute between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and about a dozen splinter groups, the diocese charged this week.

McDonnell entered the land battle last week by defending the constitutionality of a state law the case likely will hinge on. The law, called the "division statute," governs ownership of church land during religious schisms.

Tens of millions of dollars worth of land is at stake in the case, which is scheduled to head to trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court in October. About a dozen conservative congregations left the diocese in late 2006 and joined with an Anglican bishop in Nigeria, and both sides have laid stake to the property. The case includes the Falls Church in Falls Church and Truro in Fairfax.

The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, which is arguing that the "division statute" is unconstitutional, pointed to the writings of Thomas Moncure Jr., senior counsel to a prior attorney general in 2005. Moncure asserted that the statute has "potential constitutional problems" and that "constitutional principles dictate the least possible involvement of the state in church matters."

"The prior attorney general was pretty clear - the government should avoid getting entangled in religious dispute and church matters," said Patrick Getlein, secretary of the diocese. "In sharp contrast, the current attorney general has voluntarily jumped into a religious dispute with both feet."

McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin responded that the attorney general has "a duty to defend the statute." "Our position is simply that regardless of whether the court accepts the Episcopal church's interpretation ... the statute is constitutional," he said. "If the Episcopal church were to drop their constitutional arguments, we would withdraw our motion to intervene."

wflook@dcexaminer.com