Parker v. Harper

• Citation: 175 S.W.2d 361,295 Ky. 686
• Parties: PARKER et al. v. HARPER et al.
• Decision Date: 12 November 1943
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

175 S.W.2d 361

295 Ky. 686

PARKER et al. v. HARPER et al.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky

November 12, 1943

Appeal from Circuit Court, Floyd County; John W. Caudill, Judge.

Action by Ida Parker, as trustee of the Church of Christ, and others, against A. E. Harper and others to recover property of the Church of Christ. From a judgment for defendants plaintiffs appeal.

Reversed.

J. L Harrington, of Paintsville, and A. F. Childers, of Pikeville for appellants.

W. Claude Caudill and W. W. Burchett, both of Prestonsburg, for appellees.

STANLEY Commissioner.

We have a controversy between two groups over the control and use of church property. The adjudication of such cases is often a matter of delicacy, for it deals with dictates of conscience and force of conviction. It pertains to that which has led men throughout the ages into bitter strife, in former years to the dungeon and stake. In later years partisan strife within the churches themselves, often over matters which are inconsequential from the ordinary, temporal viewpoint, has given solicitude to all who have the advancement of religion at heart. The separation of church and state is the recognition of the separation of things spiritual or ecclesiastical and things temporal or secular. The jealous regard for this fundamental principle of our government leaves controversies of a doctrinal or theological nature and disciplinary measures affecting individual membership in any congregation of worshipers strictly in the ecclesiastical judicature. It is only when a controversy involves a civil or property right that the hand of the secular court will take hold and exercise its power. But in adjudicating such cases, the courts of necessity are sometimes called upon to decide which of two contending groups represents the true faith and doctrine of the denomination or sect to which the property belongs. The case at bar belongs in this class although it is not a clash between two denominations but between factions within one church with the line of cleavage unclear. The controversy is within a church variously or interchangeably called the Church of Christ, Christian Church or Disciples of Christ. It is strictly congregational in its government and activities. Martin v. Kentucky Christian Conference, 255 Ky. 322, 73 S.W.2d 849; Kentucky Christian Missionary Society v. Moren, 267 Ky. 358, 102 S.W.2d 335.

In dealing with controversies within churches having the congregational form of government without any judicatory with revisory powers, it is well recognized that the determination of any question by a majority of the members is final. As was written concerning a Baptist Church by the late Judge Logan, an eminent layman of that denomination, in Thomas v. Lewis, 224 Ky. 307, 6 S.W.2d 255, 258, such a congregation is "a pure democracy," and "as long as it acts as a local church functioning under its own laws and regulations [it] may say to all mankind that, 'Mine are the gates to open and mine are the gates to close.' No power may interfere with the authority of the local congregation so exercised." And as further said: "The minority is always bound by the majority." But the opinion recognizes the qualification that if the property is impressed with a trust with particular terms, the trustees will not be allowed to violate them. This condition is more definitely stated in Martin v. Kentucky Christian Conference, supra. That opinion, written by the late Judge Clay, an eminent layman of the Christian Church, has placed in our records an interesting and instructive history of the origin and primary doctrines of that church. The question with which it dealt was whether a group which withdrew from affiliation with an organization known as the Kentucky Christian Conference and decided to have communion service every Sunday instead of less often or the group which had voted to the contrary, was entitled to the use of the property. The lot had been donated to the congregation for "the purpose of building a church for worship for the Christian Church," and the deed contained a reversionary provision should it be used otherwise. It was found by the court that affiliation with the Conference was a matter for each congregation to determine, and that either practice with respect to the communion services is proper within the policy of the Christian Church; hence, that the majority vote of the congregation should control. The opinion recognizes that where property has been dedicated to advance or disseminate a particular religious doctrine or faith, and conflicting claims arise over its ownership of possession, the civil courts will determine which of the rival claimants are holding to the faith that the donor desired to favor and will award the property to them. The rule is also referred to in Wallace v. Hughes, 131 Ky. 445, 115 S.W. 684, 690, where dissenters from the unification of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in U.S.A., claimed the ownership of local church property. It is there stated that the rule prevails regardless of the form of government and, in addition: "If there be no specific religious trust impressed upon the property, and it belongs to a church of the congregational form of government, and there arise a schism in the congregation and a dispute as to the property, the civil courts, if appealed to, will generally award it to that faction which constitutes a majority of the original congregation, because congregational churches are usually governed by a majority of the members." (Emphasis added).

By the great weight of authority, the courts will exercise their powers to protect a minority in a congregational or self-governing body of church members, however regular the action or procedure may be, against a diversion of the property of the church to another denomination or to a group supporting doctrines radically and fundamentally opposed to the characteristic doctrines of the society or body or disavowing such tenets and practices even though the property is not subject to an express trust. 45 Am.Jur., Religious Societies, Sec. 55; Mitchell v. Church of Christ, 221 Ala. 315, 128 So. 781, 70 A.L.R. 71; Annotations, 70 A.L.R. 83. This court has held that the title to the property of a divided congregation is in that part of it which is acting in harmony with its own fundamental laws. First Presbyterian Church of Louisville v. Wilson, 14 Bush 252, 77 Ky. 252. Compare, also, Kinkead v. McKee, 9 Bush 535, 72 Ky. 535; Lewis v. Watson, 4 Bush 228, 67 Ky. 228.

We have thus reviewed the law first in order to have the several rules before us in deciding the question whether under the evidence the conflict between the rival claimants is to be regarded (a) as of the class where a majority may control the disposition of the property or (b) as a diversion of the property from the fundamental doctrines of the original organization and the faith of those who were responsible for its acquisition.

Under the auspices of a voluntary organization, known as the Appalachian Mountain Evangelistic Association, which is engaged in missionary work, in establishing and reviving churches of the Christian or Church of Christ denomination in providing means for boys to be educated as ministers, and in distributing charity, two young men, Bennie Hunt and Julian Hunt, following others who had gone before, went to Martin, a village in Floyd County, in...