wfn.org | U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review Appeal Against ELCA

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

October 7, 1996

U.S. SUPREME COURT DENIES REVIEW OF PENSION CASE

     WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) --  The U.S. Supreme Court Oct. 7
denied an appeal to review a lawsuit brought against the nation's
largest Lutheran church and its pension board.  The court's
ruling ended a lengthy legal struggle involving the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), its Board of Pensions and a
group of pastors and others who accused the church of basing the
investment policy of its pensions funds on grounds other than
finanical interest.
     This ruling supports a lower court decision that supported
the ELCA and the Board of Pensions on the basis of both the U.S.
and Minnesota constitutions.
     "The U.S. Supreme Court displayed a wisdom that is embodied
in the nation's constitution which protects religious
organizations from unnecessary government intrusion," said John
G. Kapanke, president of the ELCA's Board of Pensions.  "With
this action the court has quelled an attempt to entangle the
government in church affairs."
     Early this year the Minnesota Supreme Court declined to
review a 1995 ruling by the state's Court of Appeals that
dismissed the lawsuit after a trial court ordered it to proceed
to trial.  The appellate court ruled the trial court erred in
finding civil courts had subject matter jurisdiction over issues
involving church doctrine and organization.  Furthermore, the
appellate court found that the Board of Pensions' investment
policy was motivated by the ELCA's conclusion that the Lutheran
church must oppose apartheid.
     The Board of Pensions adopted the South Africa investment
policy in 1988 after the ELCA's 1987 Constituting Convention
passed a resolution to "see that none of our ELCA pension funds
will be invested in companies doing business in South Africa."
The board discontinued the policy in 1993 after South Africa's
decision to conduct multi-racial elections.
     The Rev. Thomas L. Basich, Advent Lutheran Church, St. Paul,
Minn., led the group that opposed the divestment policy.  They
requested permission to withdraw their pension funds and were
refused by the Board of Pensions.  They sued the ELCA and the
board on grounds of breach of contract and fiduciary duty.
     The ELCA, with 5.2 million members in 11,000 congregations,
is the fifth largest Protestant church in the United States and
the Caribbean. Its churchwide office is in Chicago.  The
Minneapolis-based Board of Pensions administers pension, health,
disability and survivor benefits for 48,000 pastors, associates in
ministry, lay workers, retirees and the dependents and survivors from
11,000 ELCA congregations and other ELCA-affiliated organizations.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958 or AHAFFTEN@ELCA.ORG; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir.,
(312) 380-2955 or FRANKI@ELCA.ORG