Diocese: Va. AG crossed sacrosanct wall

Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell bucked the opinions of his predecessors by voluntarily entangling himself in a religious property dispute between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and about a dozen splinter groups, the diocese charged this week.

McDonnell entered the land battle last week by defending the constitutionality of a state law the case likely will hinge on. The law, called the “division statute,” governs ownership of church land during religious schisms.