While one New York land use controversy engulfs the nation in a debate about religious liberty, another in tiny Greenburgh, New York was decided in federal court late last week.
A federal judge has ruled that the town violated a church's constitutional rights by rejecting its plans to build a new sanctuary and school.
More than three years after trial, U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson found "intential delay, hostility and bias toward the (Fortress Bible) Church's application."
Thursday's court decision, which could cost Greenburgh $4 million, said the town violated the church's rights under the First Amendment's "free exercise" of religion clause and the Fourth Amendment's "equal protection" clause.
The Pentecostal church in Mount Vernon sued Greenburgh in 2003 under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law that protects land use for religious exercise.
