Court Opinion

ID: 9584425
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:48:11.050283+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:07:48.246613
License: Public Domain

Jordan, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority opinion makes a fatal mistake in concluding that the relationship between the local Baptist Church (Franklin Tabernacle) and Holiness Baptist Association was hierarchical. Such an assumption, even under the facts of this case, flagrantly collides with the traditional well known reality that a Baptist Church prides itself in being a "congregational church.”
The deed is clear in conveying the property "to the deacons of said church, to be held in trust by them. . .” Under a congregational system of church government, the title is vested in a majority of the church members and *348the trial court was eminently correct in directing a verdict in their favor.
I would affirm and therefore dissent.