A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has adopted a "hands off" policy to internal church disputes, concluding Wednesday in a lawsuit by a pastor against his former church that the judges have no authority to define "adequate spiritual leadership."
The pastor, William David Lee, sued Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in Pittsburgh after he was dismissed in 2015, less than two years into a 20-year contract. He wants the $2.6 million in pay he would have gotten under the contract.
"While the amount of church contributions and members is a matter of arithmetic," the court said, "assessing Lee's role, if any, in causing decreased giving and reduced membership in the church requires a determination of what constitutes adequate spiritual leadership and how that translates into donations and attendance."
Those are "questions that would impermissibly entangle the court in religious governance and doctrine" prohibited by the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, the court said in its opinion, agreeing with a district court.
Lawyers for the religious liberty non-profit Becket argued on behalf of the church.
The congregation in one of Pittsburgh's poorest communities now is "free to choose its own religious leaders without fear of government interference," the legal team said.
The 3rd Circuit’s ruling "bolsters the right of all houses of worship to select their leaders – a right called the 'ministerial exception.'"
"The government has no right to entangle itself in choosing a church’s ministers," said Daniel Blomberg, senior counsel at Becket. "As the Supreme Court unanimously ruled six years ago, houses of worship have the right to choose who leads the flock."
The court noted that 20 months after Lee was given a long-term contract, "the church reported that in 2013-14, there was a 39 percent decline in tithes and offerings, a 32 percent drop in Sunday morning worship attendance, a 61 percent decrease in registered members, a doubling of church expenditures, and a decline in the quality of the church's community outreach."
Lee's dismissal followed.
The lower court found that the agreement could be terminated by one party upon the other party's material breach, Lee failed to respond to the church's defenses and the application of the First Amendment's ministerial exception prevented the court from ruling.
The appeals court ruling said the agreement "may be terminated at the option of either party upon thirty (30) days prior written notice by either part of the material breach of the terms of his agreement by the other party."
The church argued that Lee materially breached the agreement "by failing to provide adequate spiritual leadership."
The court cannot resolve that issue, the judges said.
Quoting from precedent, the judges wrote, "It is the decision itself which is exempt … the courts may not even look into the reasoning."
Becket said: "Founded in 1899, Sixth Mount Zion serves one of Pittsburgh’s poorest communities: one-third of the households in its neighborhood are headed by single moms, one quarter of the houses sit vacant, and one person is unemployed for every three that have a job. To support its community, the church hosts a number of ministries to the poor, including a monthly food-bank and a program to help provide affordable housing."
The U.S. Supreme Court decided in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC in 2012 that churches have a ministerial exception to hire or fire ministers free from government interference.