DOJ accuses Idaho town of religious discrimination against church plant

The Department of Justice sued the city of Troy in northwest Idaho on Tuesday on behalf of Christ Church, alleging religious discrimination. Christ Church is led by well known Reformed conservative theologian Douglas Wilson. Federal prosecutors accused the city of breaking the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, known as RLUIPA, when it denied a zoning application from a Christ Church campus that has since spun off to become its own independent congregation. RLUIPA protects religious groups from discrimination through unnecessarily burdensome or unequal application of land use regulations.

In 2022, Christ Church’s Troy campus, now known as Christ the Redeemer, started searching for a new building to accommodate a growing congregation, according to the DOJ. Church elder Matt Meyer suggested the church meet in an old bank building he owned in downtown Troy. The building was located in a commercially zoned area, so Meyer applied for a conditional use permit from the city so the church could legally meet there. Prosecutors noted that nonreligious assemblies like auditoriums and art galleries had been allowed to operate out of the commercial zone.

Why was the application denied? The city council held a public hearing about the church’s zoning application, where a number of townspeople voiced opposition to the approval of the church’s application. Several residents alleged that the application should be denied because the church’s religious beliefs would negatively affect the downtown area, according to the DOJ filing. Federal law unequivocally forbids local governments from making zoning decisions based on their feelings about religious groups, according to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

The city’s permit rejection noted that Idaho law prohibits the sale of alcohol within 300 feet of a church or school unless the city council gives its approval. The council noted that the church’s location in a commercial zone could become an issue if a future city council chose not to override the prohibition, according to the filing. The City of Troy welcomes any church to the community, but the proposed commercial zone location is against the will of the people and will negatively impact the city’s ability to grow its business community, according to the council's permit denial quoted in the DOJ’s filing.

In a Wednesday statement to WORLD, Wilson insisted that although Christ the Redeemer was originally a Christ Church campus, it had since particularized into an independent congregation. He deferred all questions to its current pastor, but added that, “the city of Troy violated the RLUIPA standards to the moon and back.” Wilson also insisted that the DOJ first took up the church’s case several years back under the Biden administration.

How has the city responded to the allegations? Troy’s City Attorney Todd Richardson insisted that religion played no role in the city council’s decision and described the DOJ’s filing as an abuse of government power. A majority of the residents who spoke at the city council hearing were concerned about impacts on traffic flow and parking issues, he told WORLD during a Wednesday interview. Richardson explained that the church’s intended building was located in a turn-of-the-century-inspired walking district downtown. There’s no off-street parking in the commercial zone, so church attendees would be parallel parking along the state highway and in nearby neighborhoods, he said.

A small community church will draw over 100 people, usually several times, and that will overburden a small-town parking setup, Richardson said. Locals were concerned about traffic safety and the residual impacts on residential life, he added. The council was very careful not to consider religion and made its decision to deny the permit strictly on considerations of law and safety, Richardson said.

He added that the city has since changed its zoning ordinances and made the area business-only because of rising traffic concerns. Venues such as theaters and aquariums are now prohibited, Richardson said. The attorney said the church member who bought the building initially applied for a permit to hold dance classes in the space, then later requested a conditional use permit for a church. The impact of a congregation meeting in the space is dramatically different than a dozen people meeting once or twice a week for dance class, Richardson said. The commercial zone only encompassed a two-block section of downtown, but the rest of the town was open for the church’s use, the attorney noted. Idaho residents take religious freedom very seriously, and the city has been trying to work out a solution with the church, Richardson added.

This story will be updated with comments from Meyer.