Court Refuses To Adjudicate Pastor's Claim The He Was Wrongfully Transferred

In Washington v. African Methodist Episcopal Church, Inc., (WD NY, Sept. 16, 2011), a New York federal district court dismissed on First Amendment grounds a lawsuit by a minister against his church and one of its bishops for transferring him to a new assignment without giving him the 90 days notice that The Doctrine and Discipline of the AME Church called for.  However, the Book of Discipline also provided that: "The bishop shall not have anything in this section applied which will prevent the bishop from using godly judgment in making changes in the appointments, that are deemed necessary for the good of the church." The court concluded that to adjudicate plaintiff's claim, "the Court would necessarily have to interpret the AME Church’s spiritual guidance, thus entangling itself in Defendant’s Free Exercise rights under the First Amendment." Reporting on the decision yesterday, the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle says that plaintiff, Marlowe Washington, stayed in Rochester and opened his own church rather than accepting the transfer to Queens.