Court: Bureaucrats have no business deciding whether Iowa church activities are religious
October 18, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – A federal district court late Friday denied the request of Iowa officials to dismiss a church’s lawsuit against a law that a state commission has construed as giving it the power to censor and control churches. In its decision allowing the suit to continue, the court found that while the church’s “fear of prosecution…is objectively reasonable,” churches have never been public accommodations subject to government regulation, and state officials have no business trying to decide which church activities are religious and which ones aren’t.
The ruling provided much-needed reassurance and clarification to churches in the wake of two vague brochures produced by the Iowa Civil Rights Commission that applied the Iowa Civil Rights Act to churches. The commission’s interpretation and application of that law could censor church statements on biblical sexuality in certain contexts and force churches to open their restrooms to members of the opposite sex under conditions that the government dictates. Fort Des Moines Church of Christ, which filed the suit through its Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, also has showers, which the law also affects.
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Court: Bureaucrats have no business deciding whether Iowa church activities are religious. https://t.co/SUP826nBxj
— LifeSiteNews.com (@LifeSite) October 19, 2016
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