Tag Archives: Topic: RLUIPA

Religion Clause: In Islamic Center of North Fulton, Inc. v. City of Alpharetta, Georgia, (ND GA, Jan. 25, 2012), a Georgia federal district court dismissed RLUIPA and federal constitutional challenges to Alpharetta’s refusal to give zoning approval to the Islamic Center’s replacement of its present worship structure with 2 buildings– a mosque and a smaller communing hall.

Journal and Courier | jconline.com: County commissioners gave their approval Tuesday to a rezoning that will allow for construction of an Islamic community center in northwest Tippecanoe County, although the vote was not without controversy.

StarTribune.com: In a church-state dispute with echoes across the country, a Wayzata congregation has won its battle to build a new church in a residential neighborhood.

Religion Clause: In Reaching Hearts International, Inc. v. Prince George’s County, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146495 (D MD, Dec. 21, 2011), a Maryland federal district court ordered Prince George’s County (MD) Council to reconsider its partial denial of a water and sewer service category change for a church building that a Seventh Day Adventist organization wished to construct.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey at :WSJ.com: What counts as a church? Chuck and Stephanie Fromm recently found out. After hosting several periodic Bible studies for up to 50 people in their home in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., the Fromms were fined $300 for violating a city ordinance that prohibits groups of three or more people from gathering without a permit.

Religion Clause: In Calvary Christian Center v. City of Fredericksburg, Virginia, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134290 (ED VA, Nov. 21, 2011), a Virginia federal district court upheld the city of Fredericksburg’s denial of a special use permit to Calvary Christian Center that wanted to lease space in its church to the operator of a private day school for disabled children.

Religion Clause: Covenant Christian Ministries, Inc. v. City of Marietta, Georgia, (11th Cir., Sept. 7, 2011), is an interesting RLUIPA case decided earlier this year which has just now come to my attention.

WSJ.com: Sundays at Faith Fellowship Church, Pastor Gary Mortara calls on God’s help to heal the sick, repair torn marriages and rescue lost souls. But when city officials here rejected plans to move his growing congregation to a bigger building, Mr. Mortara turned to another authority: the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Religion Clause: The complaint (full text) in Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. City of Mission, (SD TX, filed 10/31/2011), alleges that the city arbitrarily imposed a super-majority City Council voting requirement for approval of the permit . . .

Michigan Radio: An Islamic school may sue a Washtenaw County township over a zoning decision. The Pittsfield Township Board of Trustees last night turned down the Michigan Islamic Academy’s request for a zoning change that would have allowed the academy to build a new school in the township, just south of Ann Arbor.

Albany Times Union: A state judge has ordered the city Planning Board to allow the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to demolish the former St. Teresa of Avila Middle School, ruling that the panel failed to make the case that the building was a vital piece of the neighborhood fabric as it claimed.

Religion Clause:: In Salman v. City of Phoenix, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 122387 (D AZ, Oct. 20, 2011), an Arizona federal district court dismissed on Younger v. Harris abstention grounds a challenge to the building code and zoning laws that prevented plaintiffs from using their home and a building on their property for weekly Bible study and prayer sessions with 40 to 50 family and friends.

Religion Clause: Church Sues New Jersy City Over Zoning Delay: According to North Jersey’s The Record, last week the Harlem-based Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ filed a civil rights lawsuit against Hackensack, New Jersey and 5 city officials over a lengthy delay in approving the church’s use of a former school as a school for its clergy.

Chicagotribune.com: The DuPage County Board today voted unanimously to approve changes to its zoning laws that will restrict the operation of new houses of worship and other places of assembly in unincorporated residential neighborhoods.

OneNewsNow.com: The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the San Leandro-based International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and stepped aside to allow the church to sue the city for preventing it from moving to a larger building that was purchased when the congregation outgrew its previous location in 2006.

News from The Associated Press: Muslim death row inmate says the Ohio prison system is denying him meals prepared according to Islamic law while at the same time providing kosher meals to Jewish prisoners . . .

SCOTUS Blog has posted its latest list of Cert. Petitions to watch. It includes this RLUIPA case – City of San Leandro v. International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.

LA Daily News: It was her faith that led the petite 72-year-old to erect a 24-foot cross on the front lawn of her West Hills home. But the monument has infuriated some of the neighbors, who complain the symbol is an eyesore that is attracting lookie-loos to their quiet cul-de-sac and hurting their property values.

World Net Daily: Chuck and Stephanie Fromm already have been fined $300 for holding Bible studies for their friends at their home, and they face the potential for additional fines of $500 for each study held, according to a legal team taking their case to court.

Columbus Local News: After the Board of Zoning and Appeals rejected that application and council upheld BZAP’s ruling, Tree of Life filed suit in January, represented by the Alliance Defense Fund.

Noda, Tokufumi Joshua, The Role of Economics in the Discourse on RLUIPA and Nondiscrimination in Religious Land Use (September 14, 2011). Boston College Law Review, Vol.1, 2011. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1927649

Religion Clause: In the town of Bethel, New York, a Satmar Hasidic group that was involved in a battle with the town in 2009 over construction of a synagogue is again at odds with town officials.

Religion Clause Blog: The Tennessean and the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal report that a Tennessee state chancery court judge this week denied a motion to reconsider his decision handed down in May dismissing challenges (other than an open-meeting law challenge) to the …

Christian Post: The Alliance Defense Fund is currently working with Mauck’s firm on behalf of his clients in order to protect the brothers’ religious freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment and allow them to continue to witness to their peers. “By suing Elias, Saul, Oscar, and Ruben, Plantiffs have substantially burdened their religious exercise of sharing the gospel of Jesus with others,” the motion stated.

TribLocal.com: They’ve all given their lives to Jesus and dedicated themselves to serving him instead of a life of violence,” Mauck said. “They’re really trying to help the city and state do the same thing, which is get people out of the gangs.” The Alliance Defense Fund, a group that helps defend religious freedom cases, has provided a grant to help the brothers fight the lawsuit.

DOJ: The Justice Department filed a complaint today against the city of Lilburn, Ga., alleging that the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when it rejected the Dar-E-Abbas Shia Islamic Center’s requests for rezoning to construct a mosque. Both parties have agreed to a consent decree that will be filed on Aug. 29, 2011.

Christian Newswire: Because of the serious implications the case holds for impeding religious liberty and freedom of speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment, the Alliance Defense Fund has gotten involved. The ADF is a national organization committed to protecting religious freedoms, and is working with Mauck’s firm on behalf of the Juarez and Sanchez brothers.

Religion Clause: The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that yesterday the Liburn, Georgia city council voted 3-1 to approve the controversial rezoning request of a Muslim congregation to build a 20,000 square foot worship center to meet the needs of the city’s growing Muslim population.

Three churches sue Port St. Lucie, claim zoning laws discriminate: “The law is very clear that when you allow similar uses that include assembly of people, you have to allow churches,” said the attorney for the churches Kevin Theriot. He is with the Christian nonprofit Alliance Defense Fund based in Kansas City. Theriot said the city claims the churches have to leave because they’re not allowed in areas zoned “neighborhood convenience commercial.” [more]

TCPalm: Kevin Theriot, the attorney representing the churches and senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund in Kansas City, Mo., said churches have operated in the Southport Shopping Center for at least the past nine years. He said the city began enforcing the zoning code only when it received a complaint against the churches. “Generally speaking, non-profits are allowed to locate without obtaining licensing similar to for-profit commercial enterprises, so there really hasn’t been any problems with them,” Theriot said. “Essentially, what the city told me is until somebody complains they usually don’t do anything. They are pretty much a complaint-based system. There are some definite problems with the code as a whole.”

WSB Atlanta: The dispute over a Lilburn county mosque is heating up again. Opponents plan to protest its expansion at a Monday night City Council meeting.

OneNewsNow.com: Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute says, “The city of San Leandro is attempting to have the U.S. Supreme Court water down the federal civil rights statute by getting it to come to a finding that a substantial burden for churches must be something real extreme in order for this federal civil rights statute to kick in to protect churches who are wishing to build or grow or expand to a new location.”

630 WMAL: The ACLU of Virginia today sent an email to local and regional jail officials reminding them that they must allow Muslim inmates to take their meals between sundown and sunrise during the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan begins on August 1 and ends with the celebration of Eid ul-Fitr on August 30.

Byron Babione at Townhall: In a great victory for religious liberty and equal treatment under the law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has overturned a federal district court’s ruling which barred Centro Familiar Cristiano Buenos Nuevas Christian Church from occupying and holding worship services in its own building in downtown Yuma, Ariz.

Religion Clause: The city of San Leandro, California announced yesterday that it has filed a petition for certiorari seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of the 9th Circuit’s decision in International Church of the Foursquare Gospel v. City of San Leandro. (links to the city’s press release and petition)

Religion Clause Blog: In March 2010, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Seventh Day Adventist Congregation’s rights under the Equal Protection Clause and RLUIPA were infringed when Prince George’s County, Maryland refused to grant a change in sewer and water classifications for a portion of property on which the congregation planned to build a church. | Reaching Hearts International, Inc. v. Prince George’s County Maryland

OneNewsNow.com: “Government officials cannot use broad commercial reasons to favor non-religious businesses or membership organizations over religious ones. The city’s actions here left this small congregation with a mortgage to pay on a building it could not use for two years and at the same time it had to pay for another meeting place,” explains Babione.

OneNewsNow.com: An expert on terrorism says Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was right on the mark in his concerns about the construction of a mega-mosque in Tennessee.

Religion Clause: In Calvary Christian Center. v. City of Fredericksburg, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77489 (ED VA, July 18, 2011), a Virginia federal district court refused to grant a preliminary injunction to a church that was denied a special use permit that it sought in order to lease space in the church to a for-profit school for disabled children.

Religion Clause Blog: A lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Michigan yesterday challenging a rezoning ordinance adopted by Inkster, Michigan which prevented a church from renovating fire-damaged buildings and locating a church and parochial school on property the it owned in an area zoned as a business district. The complaint (full text) in T.C. Spann Bible Institute v. City of Inkster, (ED MI, filed 7/18/2011) . . .

Religion Clause: Yesterday, Chris Wallace interviewed Herman Cain, a candidate for the Republican nomination for President (full transcript). A portion of the interview focused on Cain’s sometimes controversial views of Muslim Americans. Here is an extensive excerpt from the interview . . .

Seeing Red AZ Blog linked in Tucson Citizen: What better time for another accolade* to the Scottsdale-based Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) — a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith? . . . ADF Senior Legal Counsel Byron Babione argued the case of Centro Familiar Cristiano Buenos Nuevas Christian Church v. City of Yuma.

Religion Clause: he New York Times reports that a state trial court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by a former fire fighter who is attempting to prevent the construction of an Islamic community center in lower Manhattan near “Ground Zero”.

The Republic: A group of death row inmates in Kentucky have sued the state prison system, claiming that pastors have been illegally and arbitrarily restricted from visiting them.

Cronkite News (7/12): The ruling by the three-judge panel of the court in San Francisco was hailed by Byron J. Babione, the attorney for the church. “We’re happy with the outcome,” Babione said. “Arizona has always had a good commitment to equality, the treatment of property owners and to the free exercise of religion.” [more]

Sonoran Alliance: Attorneys for Center for Arizona Policy and the Alliance Defense Fund worked together to defend the church’s rights in court. “Churches should not be treated unfavorably just because they are religious, and that is what the city of Yuma had done here,” said CAP Legal Counsel Deborah Sheasby. (linked at Tucson Citizen)

9th Circuit says city of Yuma violated federal law against treating churches
unequally in zoning matters

ADF attorney Erik Stanley on WAVA radio with Don Kroah to discuss the situation. | MP3 audio 13:15 mins

Federicksburg.com: Elementary reason puts this fear to flight. The disabled children in question are already in a school with mostly non-disabled children. “They are not explosive,” says Erik Stanley, a Kansas attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing Calvary Christian. The notion that they would be violent, he adds, “is based on unfounded prejudices and stereotyping about the disabled.” Finally, the two groups–the non-disabled pupils and the disabled students–would study on different floors of the two-story building and attend classes at different times of the school day.

Religion Clause: 5th Circuit Interprets “Equal Terms” Clause of RLUIPA: In The Elijah Group, Inc. v. City of Leon Valley, Texas, (5th Cir., June 10, 2011), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in on an issue that has split various circuits– what test to use to determine whether a zoning decision violates RLUIPA’s “equal terms” clause . . . Becket Fund issued a press release on the decision.

OneNewsNow.com: “This is just one of numerous lawsuits throughout the country demonstrating that many municipalities don’t understand the law. Zoning schemes may not exclude churches or single them out from similar uses for disfavored treatment,” notes ADF attorney Joe Infranco. “The lawsuit had a great outcome, and we hope other cities and similar situations will take notice.

. . . the federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit invalidated a city zoning ordinance that forbade churches in an area where very similar secular land uses are permitted.

Charisma: “Churches should not be singled out for discrimination by a city’s zoning restrictions,” says John W. Mauck, lead counsel in the suit and an ADF alliance attorney. “The city of Mountain Home did the right thing by agreeing to this court order and letting this growing church meet on its leased property so it can exercise its constitutionally protected right to assemble—just like everyone else.” . . . “This case is just one of numerous lawsuits throughout the country demonstrating that many municipalities don’t understand the law. Zoning schemes may not exclude churches or single them out from similar uses for disfavored treatment,” ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco explains.“This lawsuit had a great outcome, and we hope other cities in similar situations will take notice.”

ADF attorney Erik Stanley at The American Thinker: Zoning issues are not a concern, either. Calvary Christian Church has the approval of planning officials because it has met all zoning requirements to run such a facility. So, quite simply, no legitimate reason exists to oppose the opening of this school. There’s no reason to run up a taxpayer tab with needless litigation over a school that wants to help disabled children in need, that meets all safety and zoning requirements, and that is on firm footing under the law to do work that benefits everyone.

Fredericksburg, VA Patch: The church’s lawsuit has been taken on by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian non-profit organization which defends issues of religious liberty.
“Churches shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination, especially when attempting to expand their ministries to safely serve the needs of the community–in this case, disabled children,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley. “No disabled students would even be on campus at the same time as other students, and the church has the approval of planning officials because it has met all zoning requirements to run such a facility. There’s no legitimate reason for a denial, so the city’s stated reasons only serve to feed old stereotypes about the disabled.”

KBOI 2: The city of Mountain Home has agreed to let a church hold worship services at a local building after church leaders sued, saying its parishioners had been discriminated against. | Hat tip: Religion Clause Blog

ADF attorney Erik Stanley appeared on the Bott Radio Network with Dick Bott to discuss this: Va. town says church school prohibited because disabled kids would ‘endanger’ other children. | MP3 audio 29:29 mins

ADF attorney Kevin Theriot at the Speak Up Movement Church Blog: We at ADF often are asked what legal issues should most concern churches. And we make it a practice to ask the many pastors around the country we represent …

One News Now: The city claims that a school for the mentally and emotionally challenged would endanger other children — a charge that ADF senior legal counsel Erik Stanley says is baseless. “No disabled students would even be on campus at the same time as other students,” he points out. “And the church has the approval of planning officials because it has met all the zoning requirements to run such a facility.”

Charisma: The Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit Monday against the city, saying it is violating federal laws and that it has no real reasons to deny the permit.
“Churches shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination, especially when attempting to expand their ministries to safely serve the needs of the community—in this case, disabled children,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley says.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the city of Fredericksburg for its refusal to allow a church to begin a school program for mentally and emotionally challenged children despite a recommendation of approval by city planning officials.

Religion Clause Blog: A Tennessee state Chancery Court judge has dismissed most of plaintiffs’ claims in a widely publicized lawsuit seeking to prevent construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Religion Clause Blog: The First Apostolic Church of Milton and its pastor Larry Webb claimed that the county jail’s Interfaith Ministries Board and Sheriff Wendell Hall had excluded the church’s substance abuse treatment program from the jail because of doctrinal differences over proper baptism rites.

AP on First Amendment Center: A state prison inmate in Virginia has won a seven-year legal battle with the state, allowing him access to Muslim reading materials, CDs and DVDs.

Injury Board Blog Network: There are scores of other cases like these every year, filed by these groups and others, such as the Alliance Defense Fund, the Rutherford Institute, and many others… just as the Founders intended. The “tort reform” movement will eventually reach harm cases, through restrictions on the filing of any lawsuit, Americans don’t recognize the universality of the rights protected in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

AP: A federal judge says the U.S. Justice Department can join a lawsuit challenging a South Carolina jail’s policy barring inmates from any reading material other than the Bible.

Religion Clause Blog: In a letter ruling in Oracle Institute v. Board of Supervisors of Grayson County, (VA Cir. Ct., April 26, 2011), a Virginia state trial judge rejected a number of defenses to a suit brought by an interfaith spiritual retreat center challenging the denial of a special use permit for property which it wished to develop.

Religion Clause Blog: In Great Lakes Society v. Georgetown Charter Township, (MI App., April 28, 2011), the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected a religious organization’s “equal terms” RLUIPA claim because no evidence supported the contention that plaintiff’s applications for a special use permit and variance were treated differently than applications by non-religious organizations.

Boston Globe: A New Jersey Islamic group is suing a town it says changed zoning regulations to prevent the opening of a mosque.

One News Now: In a Texas case filed against the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), the high court ruled that jail inmates who successfully file a religious discrimination claim under the law cannot collect damages. But Liberty Institute Chief Counsel Kelly Shackelford believes that violates Congress’ intent.

AP: Virginia’s prison system did not violate a Muslim inmate’s religious rights when it refused to allow him to grow a 1/8-inch beard, which he believes is required by his religion, a federal judge has ruled.

One News Now: Churches shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination by a county’s zoning decisions,” contends Erik Stanley, ADF attorney and spokesman for Holiness is the Way Ministries. “This is especially true when the church has already received all the recommended approvals through the appropriate channels and…no other legitimate reason for denial has been given.”

SCOTUS Blog: The Court, over two dissents, bars prison inmates’ lawsuits seeking money damages from state governments for violating the prisoners’ rights under federal law to practice their religion behind bars.

Held: States, in accepting federal funding, do not consent to waive their sovereign immunity to private suits for money damages under RLUIPA.

Times-Herald.com: “ADF attorneys argue that the county’s refusal is once again in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law that prevents zoning officials from singling out churches for discriminatory treatment,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley. “Churches shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination by a county’s ongoing decisions,” said Stanley. “This is especially true when the church has already received all the recommended approvals through the appropriate channels and no other legitimate reason for denial has been given. “The county must learn to abide by the U.S. Constitution and federal law, which prohibits this kind of discriminatory treatment of churches.”