February 24, 1999
Zoning hurts churches, prof warns
___By Ashlee Ross
___Baptist Joint Committee
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--Raising money to construct a church may be easier than finding a place to build it, said a law professor at a recent conference on restoring religious freedom in the states.
___Douglas Laycock, a professor at the University of Texas Law School, discussed the impact of zoning laws on churches at the Restoring Religious Freedom in the States Conference at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington.
___The conference, sponsored by the Council on Religious Freedom, addressed the recent push to pass state versions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 federal law that bolstered protection for religious liberty.
___The Supreme Court declared RFRA unconstitutional as applied to the states in June 1997. Many religious-liberty organizations have since sought to enact "mini-RFRAs" on a state-by-state basis. Such legislation currently is pending before the Texas Legislature.
___In addition, members on the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion support the Religious Liberty Protection Act, a federal bill that would bar state and local governments from unnecessarily interfering with religious practices.
___Laycock, who defended RFRA before the Supreme Court, said passing state RFRAs is difficult because of the impact such laws have on zoning.
___He said residents sometimes do not want churches in their communities for reasons ranging from hostility toward a certain religion to fear of increased traffic.
___While older denominations may have had churches in a neighborhood for decades, Laycock said, newer religions and churches sometimes cannot get in because zoning laws make it harder now to build a church.
___Laycock said cities are more likely to give special-use permits to banquet halls, fraternal organizations, funeral homes, libraries and museums than to churches.
___"Certainly there are legitimate reasons why neighborhoods need to have a say" in where churches are built, he said. However, people often oppose churches in their neighborhood because of prejudice against the church's denomination or religion, he added.
___Laycock pointed to a Gallup Poll in which 30 percent of respondents said they do not want "religious fundamentalists" in their neighborhood, and 62 percent said they do not want a minority sect or cult in their neighborhood.
___Ashlee Ross is a journalism major at Baylor University currently working as an intern for the Baptist Joint CommitteeFrontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!