Saturday, November 17, 2007

The biggest property fight in Christendom

http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/index.php/2007/11/16/the-biggest-property-fight-in-christendom/

[Anglican Mainstream] 17 Nov 2007--It is being called the biggest property fight in Christendom, perhaps the biggest church property clash in American religious history.

Tens of millions of dollars of Virginia real estate are at stake in a trial that began this week in Fairfax County Circuit Court where priests, members of bitterly divided churches, and lawyers filled the pews.

The trial comes almost a year after the majority of congregants in 15 traditional Episcopal churches voted to leave the national church because of disagreements about the nature of God and salvation as well as whether gay men and lesbians should be fully accepted. Northern Virginia has since become one of the most active areas in the country for the conservative, breakaway movement. Clergy around the country are watching this trial to see what happens to Episcopalians who want to leave — and take church properties with them.

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