Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/442/595/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 08:24:15+00:00

Document:
This case involves a dispute over the ownership of church property following a schism in a local church affiliated with a hierarchical church organization. The property of the Vineville Presbyterian Church of Macon, Ga. (local church), is held in the names of the local church or of trustees for the local church. That church, however, was established as a member of the Augusta-Macon Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS), which has a generally hierarchical form of government. Under the polity of the PCUS, the government of the local church is committed to its Session in the first instance, but the actions of this "court" are subject to the review and control of the higher church courts (the Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly). At a congregational meeting attended by a quorum of the local church's members, 164 of them voted to separate from the PCUS, while 94 opposed the resolution. The majority then united with another denomination, and has retained possession of the local church property. The Augusta-Macon Presbytery appointed a commission to investigate the dispute, and the commission eventually issued a ruling declaring that the minority faction constituted the "true congregation" of the local church, and withdrawing from the majority faction "all authority to exercise office derived from the [PCUS]." Representatives of the minority faction brought this class action in state court, seeking declaratory and injunctive orders establishing their right to exclusive possession and use of the local church's property as a member of the PCUS. The trial court, purporting to apply Georgia's "neutral principles of law" approach to church property disputes, granted judgment for the majority. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial court had correctly stated and applied Georgia law and rejecting the minority's challenge based on the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
2. Here, the case must be remanded, since the grounds for the Georgia courts' decision that the majority faction represents the local church were not articulated, both the trial court and the Georgia Supreme Court having applied Georgia's neutral principles analysis as developed in cases involving church property disputes between general churches and entire local congregations, without alluding to the significant complicating factor in the present case that the local congregation was itself divided. If, in fact, Georgia has adopted a presumptive rule of majority representation, defeasible upon a showing that the identity of the local church is to be determined by some other means, this would be consistent with both the neutral principles analysis and the First Amendment. However, there are at least some indications that, under Georgia law, the process of identifying the faction that represents a local church involves considerations of religious doctrine and polity, and thus, if Georgia law provides that the identity of the local church here is to be determined according to the laws and regulations of the PCUS, then the First Amendment requires that the Georgia courts give deference to the presbyterial commission's determination that the minority faction represents the "true congregation." Pp. 443 U. S. 606-610.
BLACKMUN, J., delivered t,he opinion of the Court, in which BRENNAN, MARSHALL, REHNQUIST, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. POWELL, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BURGER, C.J., and STEWART and WHITE, JJ. joined, post, p. 443 U. S. 610.
The property at issue and on which the church is located was acquired in three transactions, and is evidenced by conveyances to the "Trustees of [or for'] Vineville Presbyterian Church and their successors in office," App. 251, 253, or simply to the "Vineville Presbyterian Church." Id. at 249. The funds used to acquire the property were contributed entirely by local church members. Pursuant to resolutions adopted by the congregation, the church repeatedly has borrowed money on the property. This indebtedness is evidenced by security deeds variously issued in the name of the "Trustees of the Vineville Presbyterian Church," e.g., id. at 278, or, again, simply the "Vineville Presbyterian Church." Id. at 299.
awarded to. the denominational church. 236 Ga. at 39, 222 S.E.2d at 328.
In the present case, the Georgia courts sought to apply the neutral principles analysis of Presbyterian Church II and Carnes to the facts presented by the Vineville church controversy. Here, as in those two earlier cases, the deeds conveyed the property to the local church. Here, as in the earlier cases, neither the state statutes dealing with implied trusts nor the corporate charter of the Vineville church indicated that the general church had any interest in the property. And here, as in Presbyterian Church II, but in contrast to Carnes, the provisions of the constitution of the general church, the Book of Church Order, concerning the ownership and control of property failed to reveal any language of trust in favor of the general church. The courts accordingly held that legal title to the property of the Vineville church was vested in the local congregation. Without further analysis or elaboration, they further decreed that the local congregation was represented by the majority faction, respondents herein. App. to Pet. for Cert. 9a; 241 Ga. at 212, 243 S.E.2d at 864.
"a State may adopt any one of various approaches for settling church property disputes, so long as it involves no consideration of doctrinal matters, whether the ritual and liturgy of worship or the tenets of faith."
Maryland & Va. Churches, 396 U.S. at 396 U. S. 368 (BRENNAN, J., concurring) (emphasis in original) .
This is not to say that the application of the neutral principles approach is wholly free of difficulty. The neutral principles method, at least as it has evolved in Georgia, requires a civil court to examine certain religious documents, such as a church constitution, for language of trust in favor of the general church. In undertaking such an examination, a civil court must take special care to scrutinize the document in purely secular terms, and not to rely on religious precepts in determining whether the document indicates that the parties have intended to create a trust. In addition, there may be cases where the deed, the corporate charter, or the constitution of the general church incorporates religious concepts in the provisions relating to the ownership of property. If in such a case the interpretation of the instruments of ownership would require the civil court to resolve a religious controversy, then the court must defer to the resolution of the doctrinal issue by the authoritative ecclesiastical body. Serbian Orthodox Diocese, 426 U.S. at 426 U. S. 709.
ownership of church property, civil courts must defer to the "authoritative resolution of the dispute within the church itself." Post at 443 U. S. 614. It would require, first, that civil courts review ecclesiastical doctrine and polity to determine where the church has "placed ultimate authority over the use of the church property." Post at 443 U. S. 619. After answering this question, the courts would be required to "determine whether the dispute has been resolved within that structure of government and, if so, what decision has been made." Post at 443 U. S. 619, n. 6. They would then be required to enforce that decision. We cannot agree, however, that the First Amendment requires the States to adopt a rule of compulsory deference to religious authority in resolving church property disputes, even where no issue of doctrinal controversy is involved.
church property dispute between the general church and the entire local congregation. Here, the local congregation was itself divided between a majority of 164 members who sought to withdraw from the PCUS and a minority of 94 members who wished to maintain the affiliation. Neither of the state courts alluded to this problem, however; each concluded without discussion or analysis that the title to the property was in the local church, and that the local church was represented by the majority rather than the minority.
Petitioners earnestly submit that the question of which faction is the true representative of the Vineville church is an ecclesiastical question that cannot be answered by a civil court. At least, it is said, it cannot be answered by a civil court in a case involving a hierarchical church, like the PCUS, where a duly appointed church commission has determined which of the two factions represents the "true congregation." Respondents, in opposition, argue, in effect, that the Georgia courts did no more than apply the ordinary presumption that, absent some indication to the contrary, a voluntary religious association is represented by a majority of its members.
This is sometimes referred to as the "English approach" to resolving property disputes in hierarchical churches. See Presbyterian Church I, 393 U.S. at 393 U. S. 433, and n. 2; Watson v. Jones, 13 Wall. 679, 80 U. S. 727-728 (1872).
(Emphasis added.) Although, in Carnes, the deeds to the local church did not contain the required trust clause, The Book of Discipline provided that, in the absence of a trust clause, a trust in favor of The United Methodist Church was to be implied if (a) the conveyance was to the trustees of a local church or agency of any predecessor to The United Methodist Church, or (b) the local church used the name of any predecessor to The United Methodist Church and was known to the community as a part of the denomination, or (c) the local church accepted the pastorate of ministers appointed by any predecessor to The United Methodist Church. The Book of Discipline ¦ 1503.5. The local church in Carnes satisfied all three of these conditions. 236 Ga. at 39, 222 S.E.2d at 328.
Issues of church doctrine and polity pervade the provisions of the Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church (1972) dealing with the identity of the local congregation. The local church corporation consists of "all the communing members on the active roll" of the church. Id. § 6-2; App. 35. The "active roll," in turn, is composed "of those admitted to the Lord's Table who are active in the church's life and work." § 8-7; App. 38. The Session is given the power "to suspend or exclude from the Lord's Supper those found delinquent, according to the Rules of Discipline." § 15-6(2); App. 51. See § 111-2; App. 124. The Session is subject to "the review and control" of the Presbytery, § 14-5; App. 49, as a part of the Presbytery's general authority to "order whatever pertains to the spiritual welfare of the churches under its care." § 16-7 (19); App. 56.
"the First and Fourteenth Amendments mandate that civil courts shall not disturb the decisions of the highest ecclesiastical tribunal within a church of hierarchical polity, but must accept such decisions as binding on them, in their application to the religious issues of doctrine or polity before them."
Id. at 426 U. S. 709.
"Indeed, the state may adopt any method of overcoming the majoritarian presumption so long as the use of that method does not impair free exercise rights or entangle the civil courts in matters of religious controversy."
Ante at 443 U. S. 608. In essence, the Court's instructions on remand therefore allow the state courts the choice of following the long-settled rule of Watson v. Jones or of adopting some other rule -- unspecified by the Court that the state courts view as consistent with the First Amendment. Not only questions of state law but also important issues of federal constitutional law thus are left to the state courts for their decision, and, if they depart from Watson v. Jones, they will travel a course left totally uncharted by this Court.
Accordingly, in each case involving an intrachurch dispute -- including disputes over church property -- the civil court must focus directly on ascertaining, and then following, the decision made within the structure of church governance. By doing so, the court avoids two equally unacceptable departures from the genuine neutrality mandated by the First Amendment. First, it refrains from direct review and revision of decisions of the church on matters of religious doctrine and practice that underlie the church's determination of intrachurch controversies, including those that relate to control of church property. [Footnote 2/5] Equally important, by recognizing the authoritative resolution reached within the religious association, the civil court avoids interfering indirectly with the religious governance of those who have formed the association and submitted themselves to its authority. See supra at 443 U. S. 612-614; Watson v. Jones, supra at 80 U. S. 728-729; Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral, supra at 344 U. S. 107-110.
Church, 393 U.S. at 393 U. S. 442. The Book of Church Order subjects the Session to "review and control" by the Presbytery in all matters, even authorizing the Presbytery to replace the leadership of the local congregation, to winnow its membership, and to take control of it. No provision of the Book of Church Order gives the Session the authority to withdraw the local church from the PCUS; similarly, no section exempts such a decision by the local church from review by the Presbytery.
Despite the Court's assert.ion to the contrary, ante at 443 U. S. 602 603, this "neutral principles" approach was not approved by the Court in dismissing the appeal in Maryland & Va. Eldership v. Sharpsburg Church, 254 Md. 162, 254 A.2d 162 (1969). 396 U. S. 367 (1970). The state court there examined the constitution of the general church, the charters of the local churches, the deeds to the property at issue, and the relevant state statutes. But it did not restrict its inquiry to a search for statements expressed in the language of trust and property law; see 254 Md. at 169-176, 254 A.2d at 168-170. Rather, the state court canvassed all of these sources, and others, see Maryland & Va. Eldership v. Sharpsburg Church, 249 Md. 650, 665-668, 241 A.2d 691, 700-701 (1968), for information about the basic polity of the Church of God. Having concluded that the local congregations retained final authority over their property, it awarded judgment accordingly. Contrary to the statement of the Court in the present case that such an inquiry into church polity requires analysis of "ecclesiastical . . . doctrine," ante at 443 U. S. 605, "the Maryland court's resolution of the dispute involved no inquiry into religious doctrine." 396 U.S. at 396 U. S. 368.
In Presbyterian Church v. Hull Church, 393 U. S. 440 (1969), "neutral principles" were referred to in passing, but were never described. Id. at 393 U. S. 449. What the Court refers to as an "approving reference" to "neutral principles" in Serbian Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, 426 U. S. 696 (1976), was only an acknowledgment in a footnote that "[n]o claim is made that the formal title' doctrine by which church property disputes may be decided in civil courts is to be applied in this case." Id. at 426 U. S. 723 n. 15. Nor can the Court find support for its position in Watson v. Jones, 13 Wall. 679, 80 U. S. 724-729 (1872).
The neutral principles approach appears to assume that the requirements of the Constitution will be satisfied if civil courts are forbidden to consider certain types of evidence. The First Amendment's Religion Clauses, however, are meant to protect churches and their members from civil law interference, not to protect the courts from having to decide difficult evidentiary questions. Thus, the evidentiary rules to be applied in cases involving intrachurch disputes over church property should be fashioned to avoid interference with the resolution of the dispute within the accepted church government. The neutral principles approach consists instead of a rule of evidence that ensures that, in some cases, the courts will impose a form of church government and a doctrinal resolution at odds with that reached by the church's own authority.
The neutral principles approach creates other difficulties. It imposes on the organization of churches additional legal requirements which, in some cases, might inhibit their formation by forcing the organizers to confront issues that otherwise might never arise. It also could precipitate church property disputes, for existing churches may deem it necessary, in light of today's decision, to revise their constitutional documents, charters, and deeds to include a specific statement of church polity in the language of property and trust law.
Ante at 443 U. S. 607-608. Such a use would be an extension of this restrictive rule of evidence, and one likely to exacerbate further the interference with free religious exercise. See supra at 612-614. Not only will a local congregation of a general hierarchical church be treated as an independent congregational church unless the rules of church government have been expressed in specified documents with explicit reference to church property, in addition, all local congregations will be regarded as having a rule of majority control unless they have related their general voting rules explicitly to disputes about church property. As a consequence, the resolution of doctrinal disputes within the polity chosen by the church members often will be overturned by the civil courts, an interference with religious exercise that cannot be squared with the First Amendment.
Watson v. Jones was decided at a time when the First Amendment was not considered to be applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, and before Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64 (1938), made state law applicable in diversity cases. But beginning with Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral, 344 U.S. at 344 U. S. 116, this Court has indicated repeatedly that the principles of general federal law announced in Watson v. Jones are now regarded as rooted in the First Amendment, and are applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. Presbyterian Church v. Hull Church, 393 U.S. at 393 U. S. 447-448; Serbian Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, 426 U.S. at 426 U. S. 710-711.
Thus, in Presbyterian Church v. Hull Church, supra, the Court forbade the use of the "English approach" in the resolution of church property disputes because it requires the civil courts to determine whether authoritative decisions of doctrine and practice are consistent with the longstanding tenets of faith of a particular church. 393 U.S. at 339 U. S. 449-450; accord, Watson v. Jones, 13 Wall. at 80 U. S. 727-729. Similarly, in Serbian Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, supra, the control of church property turned on the resolution of questions of doctrine and practice, "which, under our cases, is [only] for ecclesiastical, and not civil, tribunals." 426 U.S. at 426 U. S. 709; see id. at 426 U. S. 720.
Accord, Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral, supra at 113- 344 U. S. 114; Watson v. Jones, supra at 80 U. S. 727.
See Kauper, Church Autonomy and the First Amendment: the Presbyterian Church Case, in Church and State: The Supreme Court and the First Amendment 90-92, 97-98 (P. Kurland ed.1975). The Court suggests that the careful consideration of church constitutions and other relevant documents as a prerequisite to deciding basic questions of church polity may be impermissible if it requires a "searching . . . inquiry into church polity." Ante at 443 U. S. 605, quoting Serbian Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, 426 U.S. at 426 U. S. 723. The issue in Serbian Orthodox Diocese, however, was quite different. There, the hierarchical polity of the church was clear. Id. at 426 U. S. 715-717. What the Court held impermissible was the state court's further inquiry into the faithfulness of the church hierarchy's decisions to the detailed provisions of church law. Id. at 426 U. S. 712-713, 426 U. S. 718, 426 U. S. 721-723; id. at 426 U. S. 725 (WHITE, J., concurring).

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