The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment severely circumscribes the role that civil courts may play in resolving church property disputes and that religious bodies should decide for themselves, without state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine. If a church is hierarchical, a civil court should defer to the final authority within its hierarchy, according to the rule. The issue was paramount when the Progressive Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Inc. sued to invalidate a deed signed by the Presiding Bishop of the Church purporting to convey real estate to the Progressive Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ-Tallahassee, Inc. A federal...