Rife v. Fleming

STANLEY, Commissioner.

This action arises from a schism in “The Church of Christ at Virgie, Pike County, Kentucky,” an independent and self-governing religious body. The controversy is over the orthodoxy of using instrumental music in church services and instructional and interpretative literature in the Sunday school, affiliating with missionary agencies, and the participation of women in church activities. The controlling question is whether the organizers of the congregation and the members at the time of the purchase of the property involved believed in such religious observances or…