(9)     Fri 14 Nov 97 10:22
By: Karl Schneider
To: Anti-ACLU Fundies
Re: news
St:
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11-10-97
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* Church Restriction Lawsuit Settled in Richmond

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, November 7, 1997

RICHMOND, VA -- Two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of a
Richmond city ordinance that limits the number of homeless persons
churches are allowed to feed have been dismissed after the City of
Richmond agreed not to enforce the ordinance and offered language for
a new law that would recognize the right of churches to conduct
feeding programs.

The first lawsuit was the result of the City's issuance of a notice of
zoning violation to First English Lutheran Church in the fall of 1996
for feeding more than 30 homeless persons at a time.

First English and the Stuart Circle Parish, to which it belongs, filed
suit early this year. In July, the city amended the ordinance to allow
churches to feed more than 30 homeless persons only after they paid a
$1,000 fee and were granted a conditional use permit, which could be
issued only with the support of a majority of City Council members.

By early August, the ACLU had filed suit on behalf of Trinity Baptist
Church, Thirty-First Street Baptist Church, the Virginia Coalition for
the Homeless, and eight homeless or formerly homeless individuals.

Trinity Baptist Church, Thirty-First Street Baptist Church and First
English Lutheran Church, along with dozens of other Richmond churches,
regularly provide meals to poor and homeless persons in numbers that
exceed the limitations imposed by the ordinance.

The lawsuits, which were filed in US District Court in Richmond,
claimed that by restricting a fundamental mission of churches -- in
this instance, feeding the homeless -- the City of Richmond was
violating the right of free exercise of religion guaranteed by the
First Amendment.  Also because the ordinance compelled churches to
restrict the distribution of food to homeless persons but not to
others, the lawsuit also alleged that the ordinance violated the equal
protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

"If religious freedom means anything, it means that religious
institutions have the right to practice their fundamental beliefs so
long as they do not threaten the health and safety of others," said
Kent Willis, Executive Director of the ACLU of Virginia.

"What could be more fundamental than churches caring for the poor by
providing free meals? This settlement puts in writing before a court
of law the promise by the City to set aside this ordinance," Willis
said.  "Also, even though the old ordinance is still on the books for
now, any attempt to enforce it will put the city in contempt of
court."

Attorneys for the ACLU plaintiffs are Victor M. Glasberg of Glasberg &
Associates in Alexandria, Charles D. Chambliss, Jr of Chambliss &
Associates in Richmond, and ACLU of Virginia legal director Mary
Bauer.

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... Gross Ignorance:  144 Fundies.

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