ADF Helps San Diego Church Fight City's Discriminatory Rental Fees
by Allie Martin
May 16, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A federal court has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against the City of San Diego by a church that claims it has been singled out for unequal and unfair treatment. Canyon Ridge Baptist Church rents a city-owned facility and is charged a higher fee than similar, non-religious groups. Last December, attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund sued the city, claiming the rental practices are unconstitutional.
Although attorneys for the City of San Diego asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, ADF-affiliated lawyer Tim Chandler says the court rejected that request, so the legal action will go forward. "This is an important issue for churches, especially in California where land and buildings are so expensive," he explains.
"For churches that are just starting out, a lot of times their only option is to try to meet in a public building," Chandler continues. "And [it can get expensive] when these cities try to hike up their costs -- to give you the example here, this church is paying about $4,000 a month to use this building for eight hours a week."
In other cases, the attorney notes, religious organizations are charged up to 21 times more than what other community groups are charged for renting city-owned facilities. "We see a lot of discrimination against churches in a lot of land use contexts," he says.
One reason for this frequent discrimination against churches, Chandler points out, is because the religious establishments do not pay property taxes. Therefore, he says, municipal governments often do not want churches in certain buildings that could perhaps be generating more tax revenue for the city if they were rented to some secular entity.
"This is a widespread problem in a lot of areas," the pro-family lawyer observes. "And so ADF is committed to making sure that churches are treated equally when they're trying to rent or purchase land."
ADF filed suit against the City of San Francisco in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in December last year. The legal alliance, which specializes in religious liberty and discrimination cases, has won significant victories in a number of cases involving attempts by government officials to charge churches or other religious organizations higher fees than other groups were asked to pay.
"Enforcing different fee schedules based on a group's [religious status or] speech is clearly constitutional," Chandler notes. He says Canyon Ridge Baptist Church's case is founded on well-established legal precedent, and ADF looks forward to making sure the city does not continue to mistreat the church.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
