PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI FILED TODAY
LA CRESCENTA, Calif. - December 16, 2009 - St. Luke's Anglican Church today
filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United
States asking the Court to decide whether California courts violated the
United States Constitution by conferring on The Episcopal Church and its
Diocese in Los Angeles a special power - not available to nonreligious
persons or nondenominational churches - to seize its property and take over
its corporation based on its religious affiliation.
Even though St. Luke's owned its property "free of any trust" for decades,
and is a California nonprofit religious corporation governed by a board of
directors and its members, the decision of the California courts has forced
the St. Luke's congregation off their property when they exercised their
religious freedom and conscience to affiliate with another branch of the
Anglican church. The petition asks the Supreme Court to decide whether,
under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, certain religious
denominations can disregard the normal rules of property ownership and
corporate law that apply to everyone else.
Dr. John Eastman, a nationally recognized constitutional law scholar, has
joined the legal team to pursue the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. "We
will be arguing to the U.S. Supreme Court that California's interpretation
of state law has violated the First Amendment of the United States
Constitution. The First Amendment says Congress shall pass no law respecting
the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
Even though it says Congress, that Amendment has been interpreted as
applicable to the states as well." Eastman said. "The California courts
are giving preferences to certain kinds of churches that claim to be
hierarchical, that other churches and non-religious associations are not
entitled to, and that violates the establishment clause. We will also be
arguing that by denying the local church community their ability to organize
and hold title to their own building and conduct their religious services in
the manner they see fit, California has not respected their right to the
free exercise of religion," Eastman added.
Under longstanding law, no one can unilaterally impose a trust over someone
else's property without their permission. Some California courts have ruled
that certain denominations - those that claim to be a "superior religious
body or general church" - can unilaterally impose a trust on the property of
spiritually affiliated but separately incorporated local churches, resulting
in the local church forfeiting its property if it ever chooses to leave the
denomination. St. Luke's will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that this
preferential treatment for certain denominations violates the U.S.
Constitution.
Eric C. Sohlgren, attorney for St. Luke's, said, "It has been thirty years
since the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken about church disputes like this, and
since that time, the law in various states has become hopelessly confused
while our nation's religious diversity has exploded. Unlike California's
decision to throw the people of St. Luke's out of their property and
corporation based on a denomination's wishes, had this dispute arisen in
another state, the result could have been completely different. A person's
First Amendment rights shouldn't turn on their state of residence, and we
need the U.S. Supreme Court to definitely decide this important issue of
constitutional law for the nation."
The constitutional issues St. Luke's is raising before the U.S. Supreme
Court go far beyond the Episcopal Church. Every local church, temple,
synagogue, parish, spiritual center, congregation or religious group which
owns its own property through a religious corporation, and has some
affiliation with a larger religious group, is now at risk of losing its own
property in California. As a result, religious freedom is suppressed, as
those who have sacrificed to build their local religious communities are now
at risk of having their properties taken based on some past, current or
future spiritual affiliation. A United States Supreme Court decision in
favor of St. Luke's would benefit local church property owners throughout
the country because it would allow them the ability to freely exercise their
religion without risk of losing their property.
The people of St. Luke's Anglican Church have owned, and sacrificed to build
and acquire their church properties for many decades without any financial
support from the Episcopal Church. St. Luke's Anglican Church never agreed
to relinquish its property to the Episcopal Church upon a change of
religious affiliation to another part of the worldwide Anglican Communion,
and has consistently maintained that it has the right to use and possess its
own property.
Even as St. Luke's seeks a place on the Supreme Court calendar, the church's
legal battle resulted in the congregation being evicted from their property
on October 12, 2009. The people of St. Luke's are petitioning the U.S.
Supreme Court to protect their rights and those of other congregations.
They believe no religious group should be evicted from their property when
as a matter of conscience they are trying to preserve the faith traditions
that have been handed down to them through the ages.
Click here for a copy of the writ of certiorari filed today with the U.S.
Supreme Court: http://stlukesanglican.org/ussc-petition
h/t Fr. Dick Kim
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