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Alabama Supreme Court Upholds Methodist Church’s Property Rights Amid Disaffiliation Dispute
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ReligiousLiberty.TV
- June 5, 2024
- Alabama-West Florida Conference
- Book of Discipline
- church judicial framework
- church property disputes
- civil court limitations
- denominational schisms
- doctrinal disagreements
- ecclesiastical doctrine
- eligibility statements
- Establishment Clause
- First Amendment
- future of congregations
- human sexuality
- Justice Bryan
- Justice Cook
- lawsuit dismissal
- Methodist churches
- ordination of gay clergy
- property retention
- religious matters
- religious property disputes
- Supreme Court of Alabama
- UMC
- UMC internal processes.
- United Methodist Church
- ¶ 2553
The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, dismissing a lawsuit by 44 Methodist churches seeking to disaffiliate over doctrinal disputes about human sexuality while retaining their properties. The court’s decision, based on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, underscores the limitations of civil courts in resolving ecclesiastical issues, leaving the churches to navigate the UMC’s internal processes for resolution.
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