ent. Paul v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Soc'y of New York, Inc., 819 F.2d 875, 880 (9th Cir. 1987). The application of state laws, including common law tort rules, constitutes state action. Paul, 819 F.2d at 880. For example, the Free Exercise Clause prevents civil courts from intruding into ecclesiastical matters or interfering with governance of church affairs. Bollard v. Cal. Province of the Soc'y of Jesus, 196 F.3d 940, 947 (9th Cir.1999).
¶ 41 Similarly, the Establishment Clause prohibits "`excessive government entanglement with religion.'" Bollard, 196 F.3d at 948 (quoting Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602, 613, 91 S.Ct. 2105, 29 L.Ed.2d 745 (1971)). Entanglement can take both substantive and procedural forms. Bollard, 196 F.3d at 948-49. Substantive entanglement can result, for example, from a civil court placing itself in the position of evaluating "`competing opinions on religious subjects.'" Bollard, 196 F.3d at 949 (quoting Equal Employment Opportunity Comm'n v. Catholic Univ. of Am., 83 F.3d 455, 465 (D.C.Cir.1996)). Procedural entanglement can result from "a protracted legal process pitting church and state as adversaries," especially when it would subject a church to "the full panoply of legal process designed to probe the mind of the church" in making religiously motivated decisions. Bollard, 196 F.3d at 949 (quoting Rayburn, 772 F.2d at 1171). The greatest risk of procedural entanglement exists when a substantive entanglement is at issue. Bollard, 196 F.3d at 949.
¶ 42 The Washington Supreme Court has stated that, in general, "[t]he First Amendment does not provide churches with absolute immunity to engage in tortious conduct. So long as liability is predicated on secular conduct and does not involve the interpretation of church doctrine or religious beliefs, it does not offend constitutional principles." C.J.C. v. Corp. of the Catholic Bishop of Yakima, 138 Wash.2d 699, 728, 985 P.2d 262 (1999).
¶ 43 In C.J.C., for example, the court concluded that, under the circumstances, a church could owe a 