The bigots who want to leave the national Episcopal church because its to tolerant of “te gay”, have just lost one in court.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that the parish property they are on belongs to the national church, not them:

The state high court said it could resolve the St. James lawsuit by looking to property deeds, state law, the local church’s articles of incorporation and the national church’s canon and rules.

Although the deeds showed the local church owned the property, the parish had agreed to be part of the greater Episcopal Church of the United States and to be bound by that church’s rules, the court said.

The church added a section to a canon in 1979 that said parishes held property in trust for the greater church.

“The local church agreed and intended to be part of a larger entity and to be bound by the rules and governing documents of that greater entity,” Chin wrote.

Justice Joyce L. Kennard wrote separately to say that no secular institution would be permitted to take someone’s property that way.

Good for them.