FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) – In Virgina, 11 conservative church congregations seeking to break from the Episcopal Church in a dispute over sexuality and other theological issues have won a preliminary victory in a lawsuit that will decide who controls church property.

A judge ruled yesterday that he will decide the case under a Virginia law governing religious divisions. The law is favorable to the departing congregations because it allows each congregation to realign by a simple majority vote.

The judge is still a long way from deciding who ultimately controls tens of millions of dollars of church property. He still must rule on the constitutionality of the law and must decide whether the departing congregations conducted their realignment votes properly.

The dispute began in 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated Gene Robinson as the church’s first openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Congregations involved in similar disputes all over the country are watching the case.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.