Vietnamese Boat People Denied Religious Freedom in Plano
Liberty Legal Institute has issued this press release:
LIBERTY LEGAL INSTITUTE
Headquarters:
903 East 18th Street, Suite 230 * Plano, TX 75074
Phone: 972-423-8889 ext 102, Fax: (972) 423-8899
MEDIA CONTACT:
Nicole Hay
972-423-8889 ext 102
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 17, 2008
Vietnamese Boat People Denied Religious Freedom in Plano
Plano, TX- Today, The Plano Vietnamese Baptist Church (PVBC) is suing the City of Plano for enforcing an unconstitutional ordinance that discriminates against small churches.
“I don’t understand why they don’t want our church to be here,” said Pastor Le who head PVBC. “All we want is to worship God and serve this community.”
Members of PVBC fled religious persecution under a Communist regime in Vietnam, traveling to America in the 1980s and 1990s. Pastor Le started the PVBC in 2003 with a handful of individuals, and after the church grew to 50 members, began to look for a building of their own. The property Pastor Le found on Avenue G in Plano was previously a church, before conversion to a daycare, and now sits unoccupied.
Pastor Le and members of PVBC followed the proper procedures to purchase the property, petitioning the City of Plano’s Board of Adjustment to make an exception to a two acre minimum site requirement, as the Board had done for other churches in the past. Despite staff’s recommendation for approval, the Board denied Pastor Le’s request.
“No city should have a rule that specifically bans churches and synagogues. What’s happening to this Vietnamese Church is wrong, it’s unconstitutional, and it’s got to stop,” said Kelly Shackelford, Chief Counsel for Liberty Legal Institute, the religious freedoms organization representing PVBC.
According to Jeff Mateer, Chief Counsel for PVBC, “Using zoning laws to arbitrarily discriminate against this Vietnamese church is the essential abuse of governmental authority that the Constitution prohibits. Members of this church fled religious persecution in another country only to encounter it again in Plano.”
Liberty Legal Institute filed the lawsuit today on behalf of PVBC in Collin County District Court. Pastor Le and church members now await the City of Plano’s response.
Liberty Legal Institute is a legal organization committed to the defense of religious freedoms and First Amendment rights. The Institute has won a myriad of cases at the highest levels, including two landmark religious freedoms cases in 2007 alone. For more information, visit our website at www.libertylegal.org.
To set up an interview, please call Nicole Hay at 972-423-8889 ext. 102 or e-mail media@libertylegal.org.