Court Victory for Church

Im happy to report that on Friday, we received word from a Tennessee state court that we were successful in defending a church from a lawsuit.  Increasingly, Ive been concerned about churches that have become embroiled in litigation.  In the last year, weve had cases in Kansas, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee involving questions of church autonomy.  The Supreme Court in the famous case, Watson v. Jones that was decided in 1871, held that:

            [W]henever the question of discipline or of faith, or ecclesiastical rule, custom, or law have been decided by the highest of these church judicatories to which the matter has been carried, the legal tribunals must accept such decisions as final, and as binding on them, in their application to the case before them.

In other words, once a church has determined its doctrine, its positions and the way in which it wants to move forward in its ministries, it is no business of a court to determine otherwise.   The case in Tennessee is the latest in a series of cases that weve handled across the country on this issue. 

Churches and their elders and deacons must have the authority to determine the ministry direction that the church is going to take.  The Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution does not allow for courts to be the arbiters of the way a church should determine its ministry emphasis and mission. 

Larry Crain, Senior Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, led our trial team in this important case.  This victory now allows the church to get back to its mission of preaching the Gospel and reaching its community with the message of Jesus Christ.