Christian Legal Group Helps Georgia Church in Dispute Over Building Permit
by AFA Journal
November 17, 2003
(AgapePress) - A federal district court in Atlanta sided with a church which had been denied a building permit to build a facility in Henry County, Georgia.The AFA Center for Law & Policy (CLP) represented Victory Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in the litigation. Officials of the church claimed they had been denied a conditional use permit to build in Henry County because it is an African-American church, arguing that numerous predominantly white churches in the area had received conditional use permits from the county.
The lawsuit also alleged that the county had violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person's Act, a powerful federal law that protects churches against discrimination.
Brian Fahling | |
Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney for the Law Center, said, "At last, the leadership and congregation of Victory [Tabernacle] can go forward with their plans to build in Henry County and serve the community there. It is important that churches are informed of their rights."Fahling said the Law Center is happy to represent free of charge any church that is discriminated against by the government.
Attorney Ted Echols, who served as local counsel in the case, said he was very pleased with the outcome. In addition to ordering the county to issue Victory Tabernacle the permit to build its church facility, Echols said "the county has been ordered to pay our client's significant damages and attorney's fees."
This article appeared originally in the November/December 2003 issue of AFA Journal, a publication of the American Family Association.
