July 24, 2000
Bill in Congress would help churches on zoning
___By Kenny Byrd
___Associated Baptist Press
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--Local governments' ability to restrict houses of worship through zoning regulations would be limited in a bill just introduced in Congress.
___The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act also would give people in prisons, hospitals and group homes greater protection for religious exercise.
___The measure was introduced July 13 in the House of Representatives by Rep. Charles Canady, R-Fla., and co-sponsored by Reps. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Chet Edwards, D-Texas, and in the Senate by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., also is a co-sponsor.
___Supporters hope the bill will move quickly through both houses, which are nearing a month-long recess and then have only a few weeks remaining before the 106th Congress ends its term. Observers believe the bill would pass if voted on this term.
___It is backed by a coalition of both conservative and liberal groups that have worked together on previous efforts to bolster religious liberty.
___While the law would not make churches immune from zoning regulations, it would require zoning officials to treat religious and secular institutions equally.
___Communities have used zoning laws to restrict the size of churches and hours they are allowed to operate as well as to exclude minority faiths, said Melissa Rogers, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee. Ironically, she noted, authorities often have treated non-religious entities better than churches.
___"A home Bible study or prayer gathering should be treated with at least as much dignity as a Tupperware party or a backyard barbecue," Rogers said.
___The Washington-based BJC is chairing a coalition of 60 diverse organizations urging Congress to support the bill.
___The coalition first came together to help pass a 1993 law that restored religious liberties stripped in a Supreme Court ruling. After the high court ruled parts of that law unconstitutional, the coalition fell apart over another broad religious-liberty protection bill that passed only in the House.
___The new law brings the diverse groups back together by focusing on two areas where the majority of conflicts between religion and government arise--zoning laws and the religious rights of those in institutions such as prisons.
___Sponsors of the bill described instances of city officials seeking to limit the number of worshippers at churches and pressuring houses of worship to shut down soup kitchens.
___They also told of Jewish prisoners being denied unleavened bread during Passover when Jewish organizations offered to provide it at no cost.
___Religious liberty is "at the heart of the American experience," Canady said, adding the measure would protect people of faith "from the overreaching power of government."
___The measure would require that religious groups demonstrate "a substantial burden on sincere religious exercise" and would still allow governments to prevail if they can show the burden is "an unavoidable result of a compelling governmental objective."
___Kennedy said the measure would protect people of faith from "unnecessary government interference" without undermining other civil rights.
___The broad coalition includes groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Family Research Council and from the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
___Leaders of the ERLC and Americans United have been openly hostile toward each other on other issues. But that doesn't mean they can't cooperate on areas of agreement, said Shannon Royce, legislative counsel for the ERLC.
___"That's how things happen in Washington, D.C.," she said, disputing the notion that working with groups like the ACLU implies endorsement of those groups. "Simply working with one group on one issue does not mean we agree with everything they believe in," Royce said. "There are issues where we very much disagree with the ACLU," she added.
___In the past, some Southern Baptist Convention leaders have heaped criticism on moderate Baptists who have cooperated with the ACLU and other more liberal groups on special issues.
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