> Annulments come easily to mind.
This is really no different from what I said. This is totally independent of what the civil courts do or don't do. It has no effect on what the civil courts do or don't do. I have no problem with that. I also don't have a problem if you call that "counseling" or a "court". You can call it anything as long as it does not replace civil courts. The problem I have is when they want to replace civil courts with their own religious courts.
Following is an example I fround from 2004. I know other religions do practice and apply church law through their own courts which go way beyond counseling or the kind of mediation you seem to suggest.
After a four-day trial, the Ecclesiastical Court of the Diocese of Lexington unanimously found the Rev. Christopher Platt guilty of embezzlement and conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy, as charged in the presentment of the Standing Committee of the diocese under canon IV.1.1.(A)and J of the canons of the Episcopal Church. Transactions totaling more that $48,000 were at issue in the case.
Presiding Judge Mann Valentine announced that a sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 10, 2004 at 10 a.m. in the Tilford Room of Christ Church Cathedral. The court’s recommendation will be given to Bishop Stacy Sauls. It is his obligation to impose the discipline, which could be a reprimand, suspension or deposition.
The charges stemmed from a presentment filed against Platt, former canon to the ordinary, administrator for the diocese, and chaplain at St. Augustine’s Chapel at the University of Kentucky, after discrepancies in records for the Bishop’s Discretionary Fund, over which Platt was a signatory, were discovered as the books were reviewed following a change in administrative officer for the diocese. Accounts at St. Augustine’s Chapel, over which Platt was signatory , were subsequently reviewed with numerous transactions questioned for authorization and documentation.
Lexington ecclesiastical court returns guilty verdict against Platt
What I am looking for are parallel legal systems to which people turn to resolve issues they wish not to pursue in Civil or Criminal Courts. As you see, though voluntary, they do exist.