Article: Enforce the law to protect church from land use bias

From The Detroit News:

It's hard to imagine that a city would prevent a legitimate place of worship from occupying a building in the United States -- a country founded in large part on the promise of religious tolerance. Yet, that is happening now in Metro Detroit.

In fact, the federal government recently intervened on behalf of Lighthouse Community Church of God in a dispute with the city of Southfield over a building purchased by the church to house its congregation and host religious services. A decision by the federal court in Detroit is pending.

The city of Southfield initially granted and then denied Lighthouse Community Church of God permission to occupy a building it purchased that was used and zoned as a church since 1996. This came about eight months after city representatives gave the church verbal and written approval for the purchase and use of the building and Lighthouse sold its prior house of worship.

Occupancy denied

In 2004, the certificate of occupancy was denied in favor a proposed $30 million residential gated community. As a result, Lighthouse Community Church of God was shut out of its own building.

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