This could be an interesting court case to watch.

JeffT

http://www.christianpost.com/news/kansas-church-that-left-presbyterian-church-usa-takes-property-fight-to-court-130936/

The short version: a Presbyterian congregation voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) and join a more conservative Presbyterian organization. The lawsuit is over who owns the building. Obviously, this is of interest to the XJW community given the recent land grab by the Watchtower Society.

I blogged awhile back about a California case where the judge ruled that the Watchtower, as a hierarchical church could do what it wanted, no matter what the locals decide. This case may be different in that the locals have decided to join a different church. Do they get to take their building with them?

This could have a lot of impact on the churches in the US, no matter which way it goes. http://pathologicallyintellectual.blogspot.com

Separation of Powers

I think something like this happened in Texas USA....maybe someone here knows where and can give us details as to what happened.

wifibandit

That was Bonham, TX http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/195351/1/The-real-story-on-why-The-Watchtower-society-lost-a-Kingdom-hall-in-Bonham-Texas

I wonder if WT will file an amicus breif in this case like they did for Jimmy Swaggart's case?

JWdaughter

St. Andrews Antiochian Orthodox (I think) in Arlington WA had almost an entire congregation leave a traditional protestant church and convert to Orthodox and they (somehow) took their building with them. Might want to google that one.

Phizzy

Surely the Congregants no longer own the building in the case of JW Kingdom Halls, they have signed them over , so could not take the building with them,

Chaserious

There was a similar dispute in the DC suburbs over a historic church property worth millions:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/episcopal-church-owns-falls-church-property-supreme-court-lets-virginia-court-ruling-stand/2014/03/10/26a17c72-9d5d-11e3-b8d8-94577ff66b28_story.html

The national church won, despite the congregation appealing all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court (although the Supreme Court didn't take the case).

Most of these schisms in the U.S. recently arise from disagreements between local and national over attitude toward gays and lesbians and/or same-sex marriage. There have been other similar cases and the result has varied by state. The South Carolina Supreme court allowed a local congregation to keep the property. There are other factors involved - what type of organization the church is, and how the property is held.