A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a prominent New York church that sued to allow homeless people to sleep on its steps and sidewalk.
The April 27 (2006) decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a lower court ruling that allows Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church to continue offering shelter on its steps to New York's homeless population.
In November 2001, the City of New York told the church it could no longer allow homeless people to sleep on its property as it had for the past two years. City officials said the outdoor site constituted an illegal shelter and argued city shelters were better equipped to aid the homeless.
The following month, police began clearing people from the site at night. The church co-filed a suit with the American Civil Liberties Union, stating the raids constituted trespassing, violated the right to free association and hindered the exercise of the church's religious mission as outlined in the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000.
In March 2002, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a court brief on behalf of the church and several religious organizations, including the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Council of Churches of the City of New York.
A federal judge temporarily barred police from raiding the site during the proceedings, and later ruled that police could not forcibly remove the homeless from the church's steps. The judge, however, upheld the city's right to remove them from church-owned sidewalk.
The church called the judge's initial ruling "a strong defense of religious freedom" that reflects "an important part of the ancient Christian tradition of offering hospitality to the poor and to strangers."
The church operates a small homeless shelter in its basement. Although the church cannot accommodate all of the people who sleep outside the building, church leaders said they considered them part of their ministry and offered them hot coffee, services and medical attention when needed.
- Religion News Service, May 10, 2006