Welcome to the inaugural edition of RLUIPA Round-Up, where we run through recent religious land use disputes and other matters involving local government and religion throughout the country. Some of the items below include updates of cases that we have previously reported, pending zoning applications for religious use, or other topics such as religious invocation before government meetings and most things involving The Satanic Temple. We hope you enjoy this new weekly post. If there are any matters that you believe should be included, please let us know. Now, onto the updates:
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Indiana’s First Church of Cannabis to test pot-smoking as a sincerely held religious belief under Indiana’s religious freedom law (local coverage here).
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New Life Evangelistic Center, which runs a homeless shelter in downtown St. Louis, and the City of St. Louis have reached a temporary agreement that allows the Center to continue operations under its current occupancy permit until October 15, 2015 (local coverage here) (previous post here).
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San Antonio food truck chef to dispute $2,000 citation for feeding the homeless under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act (local coverage here).
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North Carolina County Commission Chairman states he will only allow Christian invocation to begin government meetings and that prayers from “minority religions” would not be welcome (local coverage here).
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Neighbors continue to oppose church whose members use hallucinogenic Amazonian tea in Santa Fe, New Mexico (local coverage here) (previous post here).
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The Satanic Temple sues to oppose anti-abortion legislation as a violation of the freedom to exercise religion (coverage here)
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Joplin, Missouri Planning and Zoning Commission recommends special permit renewal to church to house volunteers working on tornado recovery (local coverage here).
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West University Place, Texas considers land swap with church to allow construction of church youth facility (local coverage here).
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The City of Auburn, New York withdrew its cease and desist order against a church hosting a “Glee Camp” in the historic Case Mansion (local coverage here) (previous post here).
[View source.]
