Methodists defend Episcopal Church in land battle

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Virginia (Map, News) - The United Methodist Church and a handful of other religious bodies have rallied to the side of Virginia's Episcopal Diocese as it seeks to reclaim millions of dollars worth of property from breakaway congregations in court.

The U.S.-based Methodists, as well as two African branches and the Worldwide Church of God, joined the Episcopal Church this week in challenging the constitutionality of a Civil War-era Virginia law on which the case likely hinges.

"This case raises the question of the appropriateness of the government's intrusion into the freedom of any church body to organize and govern itself according to its own faith and doctrine," top Methodist officials said.

At stake is eight church properties that together are valued at as much as $40 million, including Fairfax's Truro Church and the Falls Church in Falls Church, whose conservative memberships seceded from the Episcopal Diocese over a long-standing theological split.

The Methodists filed a joint brief in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Thursday arguing the state's "division statute" - which governs the ownership of church property during a religious schism - violates the First Amendment freedom of religion. Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell filed a brief in January arguing the opposite.

Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows ruled earlier this month that the "division statute" applies to the case, which was largely considered a victory for the breakaway groups, though he has not ruled on the law's constitutionality.

About a dozen congregations in Northern Virginia left the Episcopal Diocese in late 2006 and joined with a conservative Anglican archbishop in Nigeria. The groups argued the national church had strayed from doctrine, especially by ordaining a gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Jim Oakes, vice president of the Anglican District of Virginia and a de facto spokesman for the splinter groups, called the argument against the constitutionality of the division statute "preposterous."

"[The law is] nothing but a reasonably neutral way for the state to adjudicate how to settle an issue," he said.

wflook@dcexaminer.com  

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