Keeping Theology Out of Court

Because they disagree with their parent churches over matters as varied as theology, politics and civil rights, some Protestant congregations in the South would like to divorce themselves from their national organizations. It is not easy. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court turned down the arguments of two breakaway congregations in Savannah, Ga., that claimed ownership of their church property. The congregations had held that property in trust for the Presbyterian Church of the U.S., but a Georgia judge had declared that such trusts may be broken if the parent church "substantially departs" from the theology that it professed at the time of the affiliation. On that ground, the jury awarded the property to the Eastern Heights and Hull Memorial Presbyterian Churches. But the Supreme Court reversed the decision, declaring that civil courts may not resolve disputes that "go to the very core of a religion" without violating the Constitution.

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