In…a dissent joined in by the chief justice stated, “Perhaps it is time to acknowledge the neutral principles of law approach as it has evolved, creates a bias for the national church and it is time to correct its application so that we can truly look for, as well as fairly determine, the real intent of the parties.”

Once again, Savannah is at the epicenter of the critical constitutional issue of separation of church and state, with far reaching implications to many religious organizations and their members throughout the country.

The recent petition of Christ Church to the U.S. Supreme Court sets the stage for a landmark decision testing the wall of separation between church and state. The issue is whether a national church can claim exclusive rights to local church property based on provisions of national church documents, despite changes in doctrine adopted by the national church.

Since the establishment of the colony, Georgia courts followed the English common law, and consistently held that the right to property in a dispute between a local congregation and a hierarchical, or nationally governed church, was to be decided by a jury based on whether the national church had abandoned or departed from the tenets of faith and practice it held at the time the local church affiliated with it.

This was known as the “departure from doctrine” rule. In 1969, in a landmark case which originated in Savannah involving Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Georgia law, holding that Georgia’s “departure from doctrine” rule violated the First Amendment and that property disputes involving churches could not be based on “ecclesiastical determination.”

Following that decision, Georgia adopted what it styled as a “neutral principles of law” approach to church property ownership, examining four elements relating to church property: Deeds, state statutes, local church charters and national church constitutions.

In 1979, in another landmark case from Georgia, Jones v. Wolf, the U. S. Supreme Court overturned the Georgia Supreme Court decision which awarded church property to a majority of that local congregation. The high court discussed the consideration of “legally cognizable” provisions of national church documents as one element of the “neutral principles” method, but cautioned that courts must consider such documents in secular terms.

Soon after the Jones decision, the national Episcopal Church adopted the Dennis Canon, which provided that “… all real and personal property held by or for the benefit of any Parish, Mission, or Congregation is held in trust for this Church and the Diocese thereof in which such Parish, Mission or Congregation is located.”

This position was not challenged until the national church began amending its doctrinal statements and practices in recent years, resulting in many withdrawals by local congregations throughout the country. One such challenge came from Christ Church, which based its decision to withdraw from the national Episcopal denomination on deeply held beliefs of faith, in the process risking their valuable and historic property.

On Sept. 30, 2007, 87 percent of the active members of the congregation of Christ Church voted to withdraw from the Episcopal Church of Georgia. Rector Mark Robertson was quoted as stating, “Jesus is admired by the present leadership of the Episcopal Church, but not worshipped,” citing changes in doctrine of the national Episcopal Church reaching to the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Such changes in doctrine are not unique to the Episcopal denomination.

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