McLEAN -- Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell has filed legal papers supporting a group of Virginia churches whose congregations voted to split from the Episcopal Church.

The 11 congregations -- including two large congregations, Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church in Falls Church -- voted in 2006 and 2007 to leave the 2 million-member Episcopal Church and realign under a network led by conservative Anglican bishops in Africa who oppose some of the Episcopal Church's theological views and policies, including its acceptance of an openly gay bishop.

The Episcopal Church, the U.S.-based body of the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion, sued the 11 congregations last year in an effort to retain control of church property, worth tens of millions of dollars. The Episcopal Church argues that the votes are not legitimate and wants the property returned to the denomination.

The 11 congregations, which consider themselves members of the newly formed Anglican District of Virginia, say they should keep the property.

In a motion to intervene filed Thursday in Fairfax County Circuit Court, McDonnell sided with the breakaway congregations on a key legal matter. The attorney general urged Circuit Judge Randy I. Bellows to follow a state law dating back to the Civil War era in resolving the dispute.

That law allows a majority vote of the congregation to determine ownership and affiliation when a "division" has occurred within a religious denomination.

The Episcopal Church argues that the state law is unconstitutional because it requires that the court wade into theological issues such as whether a schism has occurred within the Episcopal denomination.

In his motion, McDonnell writes that the Constitution "does not require that local church property disputes be resolved by deferring to national and regional church leaders."

Instead, the Supreme Court has allowed courts to decide such disputes on neutral principles, such as looking at the language of property deeds. McDonnell, a Republican expected to run for governor next year, said the court should simply look to determine that the vote authorizing the disaffiliation was conducted properly.

"There is no need for the judiciary to inquire into matters of religious doctrine," McDonnell wrote. "The inquiry is entirely secular."

A spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, said the diocese is looking at the motion and plans to provide a formal response to the court this week.

The dispute is being watched closely by church leaders worldwide; dozens of congregations and at least four of the 110 Episcopal dioceses in the U.S. are taking steps to break away and align with an overseas Anglican leader. -- The Associated Press