Government

As the House has struggled to act, conflicts around the globe have escalated.

The split goes beyond an ideological difference to a very real challenge for whoever triumphs in the November election.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the courts do not have to abstain from deciding a property dispute between the United Methodist Church and a smaller church that seeks to split from it. The ecclesiastical abstention doctrine does not apply here because the dispute is not a church matter as much as it is an issue of property ownership.