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Detroit churches authorized for city grant program

A federal court ruled against the group American Atheists, who sued the Detroit Downtown Development Authority for including three churches in a city program that reimbursed property owners.

The program was being used to reimburse property owners for their building improvements prior to the 2006 Super Bowl. The ruling from the U.S. District Court of Eastern Michigan held that the "Lower Woodward Facade Improvement Plan" was not in conflict with the Establishment Clause of the U.S. and Michigan Constitutions, even though churches would receive up to $180,000 in tax-funded grants.

Dale Schowengerdt, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney representing St. John's Episcopal Church as an intervening defendant, says American Atheists sued because of inclusion of the churches -- but the federal court did not agree it constituted excessive entanglement with religion.

"I think the bottom line here is that religious organizations [and] churches do not have to be treated as second-class citizens," says Schowengerdt. "They're entitled to the same benefits that everybody else is. The church here is trying to do the right thing and make downtown Detroit appear nicer to visitors, and they shouldn't be penalized for it."

He says that the U.S. Supreme Court has held, according to The Free Enterprise Clause, a counterpart of The Establishment Clause, that exclusion of churches from this "neutral program" would actually translate into hostility towards religion.

The city withheld the reimbursements to St. John's and the other churches after the American Atheists' suit was filed, but the U.S. District court ruled that the churches should receive reimbursement, including all agreed contract expenses except for church signs and some stained glass windows at St. John's.