In April 2023, the House of Bishops of the Province of the Church of Uganda elected Canon Godfrey Kasana as Bishop of Luwero. Before his consecration could take place, however, a member of the church submitted a petition alleging that he was unsuitable for consecration on grounds of adultery – and in June the House of Bishops revoked his nomination. The respondents, in effect, sought judicial review of that decision, while the Archbishop argued that the claim was brought against the wrong party and was frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of process.
Principal Justice Zeija said that the general rule was that religious controversies were not the proper subject of civil court inquiry:
It is therefore taken as a constitutional gospel in all the Commonwealth jurisdictions, and also the United States, that courts have no business handling religious questions. In other words, courts should not resolve cases that turn on questions of religious doctrine and practice. This is popularly referred to as the ‘religious question’ doctrine … [which] prohibits courts from addressing a wide set of claims even though dismissing such claims will leave plaintiffs without any forum that has the authority and ability to provide redress of serious cognizable harms.
He went on to note that the Constitution of Uganda provided for freedom ‘to subscribe to [a] certain faith and to unsubscribe’ and that ‘Once you subscribe to a certain faith, you must abide by its tenets’. The canons of the Church provided procedures for the appointment of bishops and for resolving disputes about their election – and ‘Courts cannot appoint a bishop for the Church’. Application dismissed: parties to bear their own costs ‘to promote reconciliation in the church’.
