Posted on 05/11/2010 5:03:15 AM PDT by markomalley
A small Protestant church in Leon Valley, an enclave within the city of San Antonio, is challenging a zoning code that prohibits the church from holding Sunday worship services. The city code excludes religious assemblies from some zoning areas because they decrease the city’s tax revenue and interfere with commercial activity.
In 2007, revisions to the city code excluded churches from most of the city to maximize tax revenues, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty reports. Auditoriums, convention centers, private clubs and schools are free to locate in the city’s retail zones, but churches are not.
The Elijah Group, an Evangelical Christian church, bought an existing church building in the city’s retail zones and so ran afoul of the new code.
On Monday the Becket Fund filed a brief in a federal appeals court defending the right of the church group to hold worship services in its building.
“It is shocking that a church would not be allowed to hold church services because they are not profitable to the city,” commented Lori Windham, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund.
The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 reportedly requires cities to treat churches on equal terms with secular assemblies.
Windham said Leon Valley’s claim has “enormous” implications for churches across Texas and would set a precedent allowing cities to treat churches worse than secular assemblies.
Well it would be different if it were homosexual parade in the middle of the week. Then it would be ok to close off streets, stop all access to business/commerce in order that depravity can be displayed. Revenue/taxes wouldn’t matter then /s
Wow. Texas?
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