The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a statement of interest in support of a lawsuit brought by The Summit Church against the Chatham County Board of Commissioners which alleges the county denied the church’s rezoning request to build a new worship facility for religious reasons.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division filed the statement in support of The Summit Church’s claims that the county violated provisions of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) of 2000 in its decision, according to an announcement made Tuesday, April 22. RLUIPA is a federal law that protects individuals and religious groups from discrimination in zoning and landmarking laws.
“RLUIPA protects the rights of religious groups to exercise their faith free from the precise type of undue government interference exhibited here,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the announcement. “The Civil Rights Division is committed to defending religious liberties as our founders intended and as federal law requires.”
Background
The Summit Church filed the lawsuit against the Chatham County Board of Commissioners in U.S. Middle District Court on Feb. 14. The suit stems from the county’s unanimous decision in December 2024 to deny the church’s request to rezone three parcels of land to build a permanent location for its Chapel Hill campus, which currently meets in a local high school. The Summit Church is a multisite congregation that has 13 campuses across the Triangle region of North Carolina.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Chad Austin and originally published by Biblical Recorder.
