Title: U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review Appeal Against ELCA 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 [log in to unmask]; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955 or [log in to unmask]