Rev. Wiley Drake, the pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, California, had a heart for ministry to the homeless. His church started an outreach program to the homeless that included a program to help drug addicts get clean and help them develop skills to get reacclimated with the work force. In addition, they were encouraged to attend a weekly Bible study, though this was not required to be part of the program. The church ran an active soup kitchen out of the fellowship hall and soon they were working with dozens of homeless folks in a very successful program that was turning lives around.
Success was a problem when the Mayor, the City Manager, and the Chief of Police requested a meeting with the pastor and the leaders of the church. They were informed that there were too many shabby people who were visible from the main thoroughfare that tourists frequented on their way to Disneyland. The town elders were concerned about the image projected to tourists by the large number of homeless people congregating in front of the church daily. They asked the church to shut down their mission.
The problem was that the pastor and the leaders of the church saw the mission as the ministry of the church, that is what they were all about spiritually speaking. It may well be the case that the town elders thought this outreach was merely an extension of the church. It may well have been the case that the town elders thought church was simply preaching and singing between the hours of 11 and 12 on Sunday morning. But the church didn’t see it that way and refused to change.
As a result the authorities investigated the church use and cited them for I I criminal charges for various zoning violations, The pastor was cited, the deacons of the church, and the church treasurer as well. The violations appeared to the church as amounting to subtle harassment. They were cited for using a hallway, originally permitted as a thoroughfare, for storage, because cartons of juice were stacked there for daily distribution to the poor. The fellowship hall, originally zoned as a church, was deemed as operating as commercial property because regular transfers of-food -and drink were taking place there.
The case actually came to trial. Of the original I I counts, 7 were dropped. But four remained bringing with them a possibility of 2 years imprisonment and $2000 in fines against the pastor. The trial proceeded and the pastor was convicted.
There is divine humor at the end of this story. The judge, apparently annoyed that the trial was being held in the first place, sentenced the’ pastor to 1500 hours of community service. He then remanded the sentence citing time already served in feeding the homeless. As one lawyer noted, “This may be the only case in American jurisprudence where the sentence was the crime.”
These kinds of disputes with our towns are inevitable and likely to grow, particularly in urban areas like New Jersey. The town managers have a primary interest in promoting quiet, non-offensive piety in well-defined districts. But the free exercise of religion is not so easily contained. Furthermore, the free exercise of religion is not simply a privilege among other privileges. In our Constitution, it is a fundamental right.
Rev. Dr. Charles T. Rush, Jr.
Christ Church, Summit, NJ