Separation of church and politics

Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Jeff E. Schapiro has some pointed observations about the intervention of the Virginia Attorney General’s office into the property dispute between the Diocese of Virginia and churches from CANA:

McDonnell’s entry in the church case, intentionally or not, may have a political dimension: He is a devout Catholic, highly regarded by religious conservatives on whom his Republican gubernatorial ambitions could depend.

Perhaps that is making for closer scrutiny of McDonnell’s arguments.

For example, the Episcopal Church’s lawyers, in their response to his motion to intervene, noted that the attorney general’s office under his predecessor, a fellow Republican, questioned the constitutionality of the church-division law and urged caution in state action.

That was three years ago, when the General Assembly was considering revising protocols for dividing church property if a congregation secedes.

Mainstream churches branded it a breach of the separation of church and state. The bill died quietly. But its demise would augur a discomfiting aspect of the current struggle: that religion can be taken very personally, no matter what one does.

The senator who wrote the controversial 2005 measure is now McDonnell’s chief deputy.

Bill Mims also was a member of a breakaway Episcopal parish in Loudoun County, though it is not a direct party to the Fairfax suit. Since moving here, Mims, a prospect for the Virginia Supreme Court, has joined a Presbyterian church.

The suspicions of Episcopal Church lawyers notwithstanding, Mims is steering clear of the Fairfax case. You will not find his name on the paperwork. He has had no contact with lawyers on either side. Mims also is not commenting.

Read it all here.

Past Posts
Categories