Judge Orders Phoenix Church To Stop Feeding Homeless

[Swede]

Nothing like kicking a man when he's down.


The homeless in Phoenix, Ariz. will have to find a new place for a pancake breakfast after a court ruling forced a neighborhood church to shut down its charity dining hall.

The ruling sets a precedent for all churches zoned in residential areas of Phoenix, which will force church volunteers to relocate their homeless food services to commercial parts of the city or end their meal services entirely, reports Change.org.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/12/judge-orders-phoenix-chur_n_355902.html

[sudopod]

1. What a bastard-coated bastard

with a chewy bastard center. >:(

[Owl]

31. +1!

[no_hypocrisy]

2. So much equating churches as sanctuaries.

How much "nuisance" or was it just having "poor people" in toney neighborhoods that bothered them?

[Ptah]

4. The neighbors complained

From the link:

"The controversy surrounding the Crossroads United Methodist Church's
weekly pancake breakfast began last spring when neighbors complained
about an increase in the number of homeless people in the neighborhood.
With the increase in homeless individuals in the area came an uptick
in their undesirable behaviors, including "panhandling, burglary,
public intoxication and vandalism, among other things," according to AZ Family."

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Saw that too and modified my original post. Thank you.

[anonymous171]

24. OH NOES PANHANDLING!

Shame on those hypocrites.

[polmaven]

32. Which "hypocrites"?

It is the NEIGHBORS of the church complaining.....not necessarily church members.

[anonymous171]

35. Ah right. I assumed that they were parishoners, although that may not be the case

I personally would rather be inconvenienced by panhandlers than have them go hungry. :shrug:

[Mari333]

3. what a sad sad story.

knr

[kerrywins]

5. Since When Can Gov. Tell Us What We Can and Cannot Do With Private Property.....oh...

nevermind.....
they've been doing that for decades.....

hell....FDR stole gold from people.....

[MattBaggins]

8. You've been sliding under the radar for quite some time...

well played sir.

[Canuckistanian]

14. Um... they're called "Zoning Laws"

And they're what protects you from a slaughterhouse being built right next door to you.

What's astounding here is that they're equating a church with a business in order to stop homeless people from getting food.

And WTF are you saying about FDR "stealing gold"?

[kerrywins]

16. I don't need protection from a business being built next to me

as long as they don't interfere with my life, liberty or property, I'm fine.
thanks though

[no limit]

17. So a 24 hour noise factory next to your bedroom wouldn't be a problem for you right?

[kerrywins]

18. would noise pollution be an infridgement on my right to property?

if its interfering with my use of my private property, gov. already is supposed to protect that....we don't need a zoning law for that.....when we've seen zoning laws abused by big corporations, that allow them to takeover private property (in that case, the gov. would be doing the exact opposite of protecting property rights).

[no limit]

22. I dunno, you tell me what does the constitution say about noise pollution?

Does pollution from traffic infringe on your property rights?

What about the property rights of the people making the noise?

Hmm...if only we could come up with some common sense zoning laws to deal with these questions. Oh wait, thats right, we did. And you are arguing against them.

[kerrywins]

30. zoning laws are not common sense laws

the constitution clearly protects property.

zoning laws aren;t common sense...thats why corporations have used them to take over property in the past.

[no limit]

38. Kudos for completely ignoring my point, well played my friend.

[anigbrowl]

29. but if you decide that they do affect your property...

...then you want the government to provide a dispute resolution forum (court) and enforce the results...assuming you win your case - if not, then the court system is corrupt and staffed by activist judges. Of course, the business next to you may have millions of dollars it can throw at its lawyers while you have a pittance by comparison, but hey, that's your problem.

I am not in favor of the government being too involved in people's lives, but you are really putting out a kind of have-your-cake-and-eat-it attitude here.

[Canuckistanian]

39. Then what about other people?

Most sane people don't want to live beside a noisy, smelly, polluting factory.

If you like it, fine. Now we know where to put the nuclear waste dump.

[roguevalley]

40. of course you would. put a nuclear plant next to your house and

see how loud you would squeal.

[whistler162]

21. since about 1600......

B.C.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. I understand zoning laws...

...people don't want businesses in their residential areas.

Conversely, I can see businesses not wanting homeless people around (not agreeing wit it as it would be inhumane) BUT...

...where are the rights of people to eat?

The church isn't running a business. Does this mean you can't have dinner parties in residential zones?

We finally find Christians we can like and some judge pulls this nonsense.

[stray cat]

10. Lots of churches feed the hungry and try to offer help of some sort or shelter

just use google to see them.

[Javaman]

12. I guess the morons that voted against this forgot that part of the

churches mission (churches that actually walk the walk) is to help the poor.

It's just so nasty when that little part gets in the way of people who live in the area.

"we want the church, but not the smelly people that go with it. Why can't their be a church just for the rich?? I mean really!!"

Sigh.

[polmaven]

37. The "morons who voted against this"????

This was a judge's order. Nobody voted on anything! :shrug:

[EmeraldCityGrl]

28. So on Sundays when church goers are mingling out front, creating

traffic and parking issues, that's not offensive. It's those pesky poor people in shabby clothes mingling that's a problem.

[napi21]

9. How sad. What's wrong with this Judge? Somehow I doubt

this was an everyday occurrence!

[MineralMan]

11. Then let's do this: Ban church potlucks, too, along with

coffee and cakes after services. If a church can't feed the homeless on it's property, then they can't feed anyone. It's that simple. Someone should figure out which church that judge goes to and push the ban on those things at his/her church. That should end this stupidity of trying to stop churches from following Jesus' teaching in Matthew 25.

Sometimes, the law is just an ass.

[Lance_Boyle]

13. Churches should never be placed in residential-zoned areas.

Their presence in residential areas decreases tax revenue for the locality (including funding for firefighters and police, whose protection churches enjoy at their neighbors' cost) and creates noise and traffic nuisances for their neighbors.

[Better Today]

15. +1

[KamaAina]

19. Alas, federal law pretty much gives churches carte blanche to locate wherever they wish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RLUIPA

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), Pub. L 106-274, 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc-1 et seq. is a United States federal law that prohibits the imposition of burdens on the ability of prisoners to worship as they please, as well as giving churches and other religious institutions a way to avoid burdensome zoning law restrictions on their property use. It was enacted by the United States Congress in 2000 to correct the problems of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993. The act was passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate by unanimous consent in voice votes, meaning that no objection was raised to its passage, so no vote was taken.

Actually it's not the law itself that gives churches a free pass, but its interpretation by Reagan/Bush federal judges. :eyes:

[Dreamer Tatum]

20. Yeah, they should put churches closer to where people LIVE. Oh, wait a minute.

:eyes:

[anonymous171]

26. Translation: I don't like churches and don't want to live near them. nt

[EmeraldCityGrl]

34. Thanks for the smile.

:toast:

[anonymous171]

23. City government tried to pull the same shit on my church when they hosted a Tent City.

:grr:

[gratuitous]

25. Serves 'em right; now tax them!

Engaging in political activities like that! Don't those churches know how profitable it is for some elements in our society that there are chronically hungry and homeless people? Good for the judge for recognizing the subversive nature of these nakedly political opportunists. First it's the pancakes, next it's godless communism.

[anonymous171]

27. “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.

When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”-Archbishop Helder Camara

[DU GrovelBot]

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[LeftHander]

36. crazy world...feed the pidgeons, squirrels and ducks.

but not the people.