Church, City of Detroit fight atheist suit over funds
Ed Thomas
OneNewsNow.com
July 5, 2007
A church that was denied reimbursement through a Detroit city program for its building renovations because of a legal challenge by atheists, has appeared before a judge asking for summary judgment in the case filed by the atheists against the city.
St. John's Episcopal Church, the church denied the reimbursement, was allowed entrance by the court as an intervenor in the case in December, becoming a defendant. Church legal counsel Dale Schowengerdt of Alliance Defense Fund says St. John's made $180,000 in renovations to its exterior after contracting for 50 percent reimbursement through a Detroit Development Authority program designed to help enhance the appearance of city buildings and lots ahead of the 2006 Super Bowl. Nine of the 91 properties which were eligible participants were churches or church-owned properties.
Schowengerdt explains that "because of that, a group called American Atheists sued to have this plan declared unconstitutional." After American Atheists v. City of Detroit was filed, the city withheld reimbursement funds to St. John's and other church participants.
Schowengerdt and the church are out to prove the discrimination against religious organizations contradicts the Establishment Clause found in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
"The counterpart to that is the free exercise clause," he explains, "and the [U.S.] Supreme Court has held numerous times that if you exclude religious organizations, [if] you exclude churches from a neutral program, that [is] evidence [of] hostility to religion, not neutrality."
Click here for the full story! (may need to disable pop-up blocker)
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Search the Bible
You scored as Reformed Evangelical. You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. |
What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com
No comments:
Post a Comment