Church Business: The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently issued an important decision under the land use provision of the Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Acts (RLUIPA). The Court ruled that the City of New Berlin in Wisconsin discriminated against Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church's free exercise of religion when the City refused to let the church use its own land to build a new church.
This court decision has implications for another trial related to the Village of Long Grove that is scheduled for Apr. 1. In this case, Vision Church United Methodist, a congregation of mostly Korean-Americans, alleges that Long Grove violated their constitutional right to build a house of worship.
Vision had sought to become part of Long Grove by constructing a church on farmland it had purchased in Lake County and having its land annexed into the Village. After Long Grove rejected the Korean Church, the congregation then proceeded with its legal right to build under the auspices of Lake County.
