A proposed Seventh-Day Adventist congregation in Laurel, Maryland, was denied a water permit change by the Prince George's County Council, thereby preventing them from moving forward in their quest to build a sanctuary and school on land already owned by the congregation. This happened despite a judge's ruling, back in 2008 that under RLUIPA the county violated the church's religious liberty rights in denying a building permit. Reaching Hearts International advocates are understandably frustrated.
Rev. Michael Oxentenko of Reaching Hearts called the vote “religious discrimination.”
“They did the same thing to us in 2003,” Oxentenko said, referring to an earlier rejection of water and sewer permits by county officials. “We want to build a church. We want to exercise our faith. But we believe at this point that nothing we do is going to work.”
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The full council still must vote on the water permit. But Ward Coe, another lawyer for Reaching Hearts, said he has little faith in that body.“The options are to go back to court and seek to have the county found in contempt of [the court order] that requires they process this application without discrimination and delay,” Coe said.
