Injunction against facility’s religious ministry to the homeless reversed
By Rebecca Downs, The Daily Signal
A church in Bryan, Ohio recently notched a win that religious liberty advocates believe will set a new precedent after the city attempted to shut down the church using fire codes.
Last Friday, Ohio’s Sixth District Court of Appeals reversed an injunction against the church, called Dad’s Place, and its pastor, Chris Avell, from being able to carry out religious ministry to the homeless and providing them with temporary shelter. The legal questions in the case centered around the relationship between religious liberty and municipal codes, with an eye to ensuring religious organizations are not unnecessarily burdened.
Ryan Gardner, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, told The Daily Signal that the law requires “the least restrictive test possible,” when dealing with religious organizations. “You have to infringe on religious liberty with as light a touch as possible. And that’s the test that the court says applies here, and that’s why it sent the case back down to the trial court to correctly apply that… test.”