A church gets a different rule
True Worship Ministries, a Christian church in Troy, North Carolina, wants to keep renting temporary event space while it moves toward a permanent home. That ordinary request has turned into a legal fight. The church is currently renting space from the Innovative Action Center, a nonprofit focused on giving minority communities a place for business and community purposes. According to the legal team representing the church, Troy officials have ordered the arrangement to stop because churches are not allowed to operate in the town’s Main Street zone. The town sent a cease-and-desist letter, claiming an ordinance blocks the church from operating there even though secular businesses and organizations may use the same kind of space. Apparently, the zoning code can recognize a venue, as long as the people gathering there are not worshiping. That is not a neutral rule in any ordinary reading of the word.
The zoning list raises the obvious question
The legal team says town ordinances allow theaters, health clubs, libraries, museums, event and wedding venues, auditoriums, stadiums, liquor stores and bars to operate as a matter of right in the zone. Churches, however, are specifically excluded. So the issue is not whether the property can host people, events or businesses. It is whether a religious service is the activity that triggers the town’s special restriction. Ryan Gardner of First Liberty Institute called the policy wrong and unconstitutional, saying the church is asking only to be treated like any other entity or temporary renter. John Moran, a McGuireWoods partner working on the case, called the use of zoning to block the church’s temporary rental “blatant religious discrimination.” When a code welcomes bars and liquor stores but singles out worship services, the town has created a comparison that does most of the arguing for the church.
First Liberty warns the town
First Liberty Institute and McGuireWoods sent a letter asking Troy to withdraw its threats. The lawyers say the prohibition violates the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, commonly known as RLUIPA. Their argument is straightforward: because the center can rent its space to secular groups, it has the right to rent to religious institutions on the same terms. The letter says the town would need a compelling state interest and a narrowly tailored rule to justify this kind of viewpoint discrimination. So far, the lawyers say, Troy has offered no compelling interest in stopping the church’s religious gatherings. The only interest identified in the town’s demand letter was compliance with its ordinances. That answer merely points back to the rule being challenged. It does not explain how eliminating worship services advances a public goal. The letter also says that even if the town had a compelling interest, it has not shown that banning the church from the property is narrowly tailored to serve it.
Now the dispute comes with a daily-fine threat
The cease-and-desist letter was not the only pressure. According to the church’s lawyers, the town later sent a Warning Citation threatening additional action, including daily fines and other unspecified enforcement measures. The legal team warned that if Troy continues denying the church’s religious exercise, True Worship Ministries will pursue all available legal options. That puts the town’s zoning policy under a brighter light than a routine permit dispute. Officials are not simply deciding how a venue operates. They are threatening penalties against a church that wants to hold temporary gatherings in a space open to other kinds of organizations and businesses. The town may ultimately have to explain why its Main Street rules treat worship as uniquely restricted while making room for theaters, stadiums, bars and liquor stores. Bureaucracy usually prefers forms, notices and citations to plain English, but the practical message here is hard to miss: rent the space for the listed secular uses, just not church.
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