The U.S. and N.C. constitutions separate church and state into different spheres. Government is not allowed to establish a state religion or to become involved in church disputes. A recent ruling by the N.C. Court of Appeals highlights this doctrine.
In 1982, John and Vickie Tubiolo were among the founding members of Abundant Life Church. John Tubiolo was an incorporater and original trustee of the church. By 2000, however, the couple had become involved in a dispute with the leadership and pastor of the church. On Aug. 22, 2002, the Turbiolos, through their lawyer, demanded copies of certain church financial records. The church’s council responded in a Sept. 5, 2002 letter by terminating the plaintiffs’ membership based upon scriptural discipline. The couple challenged the church’s action in court, including upon appeal to the state’s second-highest court, the N.C. Court of Appeals.
“Membership in a church is a core ecclesiastical matter,” Judge Sanford Steelman said for the appeals court. “The power to control church membership is ultimately the power to control the church. It is an area where the courts of this State should not become involved. This stricture applies regardless of whether the church is a congregational church, incorporated or unincorporated, or an hierarchical church.”
The appeals court did, however, recognize a slight exception to this broad doctrine. The couple alleged that the church never adopted bylaws and thus those signing the Sept. 5, 2002 letter were without authority to expel them.
“While the Courts can under no circumstance referee ecclesiastical disputes, they can adjudicate ’property disputes’, provided that this can be done without resolving underlying controversies over religious doctrine,” Steelman wrote.
“We hold that the plaintiffs’ membership in the defendant is in the nature of a property interest, and that the courts do have jurisdiction over the very narrow issue of whether the bylaws were properly adopted by the defendant,” Steelman wrote.
The Tubiolos also argued that the church, as a Chapter 55A nonprofit corporation, was required to provide certain procedural safeguards before expelling them. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 55A-6-31(a), which covers such entities, states: “No member of a corporation may be expelled or suspended, and no membership may be terminated or suspended, except in a manner that is fair and reasonable and is carried out in good faith.”
The appeals court was not persuaded. “The fact that defendant is a corporation under Chapter 55A does not alter our analysis of whether the courts of this state have jurisdiction in ecclesiastical disputes,” Steelman wrote.
“Plaintiffs would have the courts direct that churches cannot terminate membership without following certain due process procedures including notice and an opportunity to be heard. This we refuse to do. A church’s criteria for membership and the manner in which membership is terminated are core ecclesiastical matters protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and section 13 of Article I of the Constitution of the State of North Carolina.”
The case is Tubiolo v. Abundant Life Church, Inc., (03-471).