The Episcopal Property War

Judge Bellows' ruling has a second section that apparently requires more deliberation. Henry Burt, a spokesman for the Episcopal Church's Virginia Diocese, which had sued the 11 churches to maintain the property, admitted that "the finding in the case is initially favorable to the [seceding] congregations," but pointed out the judge has specified that the buildings could not change hands unless the second half of his trial determines that the Virginia law is actually Constitutional. Hearings on that begin May 28. "And we are confident," says Burt, "that the Virginia law creates issues both with the First Amendment and the Constitution's contracts clause." Indeed the Constitutional issue is vital to the national battle. The Episcopal Church claims that the the agreements binding the rebels' property to it are not just contractual but theological. Therefore, Burt says, for any state government to contravene them "is not just messing with a corporate structure, but messing in a clear and fundamental theological belief." If Judge Bellows decides the Virginia law violates Church/State separation it would create a precedent for decisions that would give tremendous authority to Episcopal claims.