From South Carolina-For the second time in recent months, U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck is weighing whether issues arising from the acrimonious Episcopal schism in eastern South Carolina belong in federal court.
As two bishops sat with their attorneys on either side of his Charleston courtroom, Houck heard about an hour of arguments Thursday on one bishop’s request for an injunction against the other.
Charles vonRosenberg, the bishop of parishes remaining with the national Episcopal Church, wants the court to block Mark Lawrence, the bishop of churches that left last year, from using the name and the symbols of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.
The conservative Diocese of South Carolina last year separated from the more liberal national Episcopal Church over a variety of theological issues, including the authority of Scripture and the ordination of gays. The breakaway churches sued in state court to protect the use of the diocesan name and half a billion dollars’ worth of property.
In a consent order, meaning both sides agreed to it, signed by a state judge earlier this year, the churches that left were given the right to use the name and symbols.
The congregations that remained with the national church had tried to move the case to federal court. But Houck ruled in June that the First Amendment is not a main point in the case and sending it to federal court would disrupt the balance between state and federal courts.
More here-
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130808/PC1610/130809479/1009/judge-again-weighs-issues-in-sc-episcopal-schism&source=RSS
No comments:
Post a Comment