“Any church constitution is by definition really a religious document, even if some of the provisions in it don’t articulate a particular religious or theological point,” he said. “It’s no business of government to look inside a church and say whether it’s being governed well or poorly.”

If you believe your religious congregation is violating its own written bylaws, you can appeal to the congregation or its leaders.

But don’t tell it to a judge.

Unless there’s a dispute over physical property or an alleged violation of a legal civil right, the courts have to keep their hands off of internal disputes within congregations, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled.

The opinion, issued in April, brought to an end five years of what the court itself called “convoluted” litigation. The appeals court ruled in favor of the Rev. Kevin Nelson, pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown and three of its lay leaders.

In the Jefferson Circuit Court lawsuit, 29 members claimed that church leaders were failing to hold regular business meetings or show financial records to members, in violation of written requirements in the church constitution.

Senior Judge Ann O’Malley Shake, who presided over the circuit court case, had ruled that a church’s written constitution is a essentially a legal contract that — in areas that pertain to non-religious matters — can be legally enforced.

She had ruled that the church must follow its rules for holding at least three meetings per year and providing members access to records — a ruling that prompted subsequent court hearings over how well the church was complying with the order.

But the appeals court ruled this was none of the court system’s business.

“This case concerns the internal method by which the church’s leaders permit the active members to view the financial documents,” the court ruled. “This is clearly an ecclesiastical matter of internal church governance, in which the court has no place.”

It cited a standard legal text, “American Jurisprudence,” in its description of Baptist and other types of churches where decision are made by majority vote: “If … there is any error, mistake or irregularity that does not affect civil or property rights, the action may be corrected only by the membership.”