October 7, 2008
A church building's doors forced shut. Its members not allowed to meet in their own building. Sounds like something missionaries report from foreign countries unfriendly to Christians—like from behind the Iron Curtain. But not this time.
This time, once again, it's happening right here on our own turf.
Carlinville Southern Baptist Church planned to renovate a former Wal-Mart building in their central Illinois city. They met resistance from the start. City officials attempted to block the congregation's purchase, renovation, and use of the structure. Because that move violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act – a federal law which was enacted to protect churches from discrimination in land use disputes with local governments – the church sued. They did so with the assistance of Alliance Defense Fund Allied Attorney Daniel P. Dalton.
Thankfully, Dalton was able to secure a settlement with the City of Carlinville for the church's renovation project to continue. In return, the church agreed to drop its suit. Dalton negotiated that settlement with members of the city council, including the mayor. Then, shockingly, the mayor vetoed the agreement. The church had already commissioned volunteers to remodel the structure for ministry use and ordered hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of building supplies.
This seemingly hopeless cycle went around and around at least three times this summer. The city would propose terms of agreement to the church, only to add more restrictive terms in an apparent attempt to drive the church and its pastor out of town. After the church publicly took a stand against the impasse, the city proposed a better settlement, and the church accepted.
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It's simply wrong for a city to keep a church from using property because officials would rather see it used to generate commercial tax revenue," said ADF Senior Counsel Joe Infranco. "
And forcing a church to endure bureaucratic nightmares over the matter is even worse. We're pleased that this settlement clears the way for the church to begin preparing the property for worship services."
Unfortunately, members of the Carlinville congregation are not the only ones facing city restrictions for wanting to worship in the building of their choice. ADF attorneys, right now, are fighting a similar situation in Yuma, Arizona.
Churches bring life, charity, and healing to communities. Restricting where they choose to meet is not only a violation of federal law, it is wrong. Please pray as we continue to represent, free of charge, churches across the country who are simply trying to gather to worship our Lord.