RLUIPA.org
"Religious land-use law causing friction," The Journal News
This story by Laura Incalcaterra reports on the recent civil rights lawsuit by the Justice Department against the Town of Airmont, NY over its refusal to permit an Orthodox rabbinical college in the town. The story includes the following quote:
Jared Leland, a media and legal counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., described RLUIPA as an "accommodation law."
Leland said that in general, people had a religious impulse and the right to express that impulse by worshipping and participating in faith-based programs such as ministering to the poor and helping senior citizens.
"Religion's not something to be practiced simply in private," he said. "It's meant to be practiced openly. Religious institutions have a right to exist among the people."
The Becket Fund works to make religious groups aware of RLUIPA and has assisted in filing lawsuits to further the groups' efforts across the nation.
Leland said there was no problem with religious groups using their facilities for programs other than worship. He said other uses were still in keeping with a church's mission and therefore had to be allowed.
Click here for the full story.