A state circuit judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by scores of United Methodist churches in Florida seeking to separate from the larger network of places of worship that make up the United Methodist Church.
Circuit Judge George Wright of the Eighth Judicial Circuit in Bradford County issued the opinion April 17 in a case involving 75 churches that disagree with certain UMC actions. The churches contend the UMC hierarchy tolerates clergy who perform same-sex marriage and are themselves openly gay.
The plaintiffs have also alleged that UMC can mandate onerous financial obligations on churches that wish to leave the fold, according to the lawsuit.
But Wright noted in his opinion that Florida is among the minority of states with policies requiring courts to defer to the highest authority of an ecclesiastical entity in cases involving intra-church disputes. That led him to dismiss the Florida churches’ lawsuit, though he seemed to keep an open mind about the merits of the lawsuit.
“This type of case is being litigated throughout the country in states that follow the neutral-principles approach to resolving church property disputes,” Wright said.
An attorney representing the plaintiffs, David Gibbs III of the National Center for Life and Liberty, said the churches would be appealing the lawsuit.
“Many of the churches don't feel like they're leaving the Methodist Church,” Gibbs told the Florida Record. “It's the church that left them.”
He added that many of the plaintiffs expressed the opinion that they could be more effective for their members as an independent church, while others want to affiliate with the Global Methodist Church.
The defendants argued that the district court, under current Florida law, has no jurisdiction to resolve a dispute between the parties of the lawsuit and must defer to the authority of UMC denomination
Wright said that Florida might want to consider changing its policies on adjudicating intra-church disputes.
“It seems to the court that merely deferring to the UMC on all matters and denying the plaintiffs’ access to the courts to litigate neutral property and trust matters does not meet the strictest scrutiny,” he said in the ruling. “Nevertheless, the court is bound to follow the law as established by the higher courts in the state of Florida.”