The American Center for Law and Justice is warning a South Carolina city to lift its ban on new churches in its downtown district or end up in court.
Gaffney, South Carolina, Mayor Henry Jolly and the city council adopted a zoning ordinance that specifically excludes religious organizations from occupying commercial or store-front buildings in the town’s downtown district if those sites previously were retail.
In a letter, ACLJ warned that the federal law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent prevent the city from discriminating against religious groups.
The federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, for example, states: “No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that treats a religious assembly or institution on less than equal terms with a nonreligious assembly or institution.”...