Doctrinal Entanglement Clause Samples

Doctrinal Entanglement. The Supreme Court has not addressed the constitutional implications of enforcing an antenuptial religious upbringing agreement, and there is no controlling federal authority on that issue. However, the Court’s cases establish that civil courts cannot resolve questions of religious doctrine as that would involve courts in religious matters in a manner forbidden by the Establishment Clause. 106 This prohibition arose from an early case in which a civil court was asked to determine which of two rival factions of a church espoused the appropriate church teachings, in order to resolve a property dispute. 107 There, the Supreme Court held that to involve civil courts in core matters of religious belief and ritual would destroy the autonomy of religious institutions and thereby subvert fundamental First Amendment values. 108 Later cases have recognized that the prohibition against doc- trinal entanglement reflects a more fundamental concern about the government’s appropriate role in religious matters. 109 Not only does the prohibition seek to preserve the autonomy of religious institu- tions, it recognizes that neither the courts nor the legislative and ex- ecutive branches can “prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism [or] religion.” 110 However, courts are not precluded from resolving a dispute simply because it involves a religious organiza- tion. If neutral principles of law apply to the dispute and the court 104. See ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ TRIBE, AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 1226-27 (1988) (discussing five First Amendment doctrines based on the undesirability of excessive church-state entan- glement). 105. See ▇▇▇▇▇, 574 A.2d at 1146. 106. See ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, Comment, supra note 45, at 249-53. See generally ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ Gal- ligan, Note, Judicial Resolution of Intrachurch Disputes , 83 COLUM. L. REV. 2007 (1983) (analyzing two approaches to judicial resolution of intrachurch disputes and advocating univer- ▇▇▇ adoption of the rule of neutral principles).