A Holly Springs, Mississippi, church is one step closer to locating in a building in the downtown section of the city. That comes after a ruling by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The city ordinance requires that a church obtain permission from 60 percent of the business property owners and the mayor. A federal court ruled in favor of the city sending the case to the Fifth Circuit, which ruled the lower-court judge erred and sent the case back for further proceedings.
Jeff Mateer with Liberty Institute tells OneNewsNow that the Fifth Circuit's decision provides church with a solid basis for its argument.
"In doing so the Fifth Circuit made it very clear that the Holly Springs ordinance discriminates unfairly against churches, which basically makes the churches -- and only churches -- jump through some hoops in order to occupy any space in the downtown area," he says. "So the Fifth Circuit made it very clear that that ordinance is unconstitutional."
Bars or other non-religious groups did not have to obtain the permissoin of downtown property owners or the mayor's approval.
"... On the eve of the argument at the Fifth Circuit, they changed their ordinance. Before, they had all these requirements," Mateer remarks. "What they basically have done now is ban churches from their downtown area, and so the Fifth Circuit gave some advice on that and that's what we'll be back at the district court seeking to hold the new ordinance unconstitutional."
A hearing has not been scheduled as yet, but the church will be arguing that it simply seeks to be treated equal to any other establishment trying to locate downtown.