Property rights are vital to religious life. Religious exercise is virtually impossible without a physical house of worship -- and any house of worship needs to use land. But religious assemblies and institutions face growing pressure by municipal authorities to limit their physical presence in America’s cities and towns. They’re excluded from downtown areas because they do not attract enough traffic to generate retail and tax revenues; they're excluded from residential districts for creating too much traffic; and they’re excluded from agricultural and other areas as being “incompatible” with a rural lifestyle. The new “religion” of government land planning would leave churches, synagoges, mosques, and temples without a home.
The Becket Fund’s “Sacred Spaces” project is designed to raise awareness of the fundamental rights threatened by this trend. Government insensitivity -- or worse, hostility -- to the needs of faith communities is at odds with this country’s long tradition of specially accomodating houses of worship -- both to avoid government entanglement, and to faciliate the public service they provide. These ministries may include serving the homeless from a downtown site, reaching out to the community from a strip mall, or engaging in quiet reflection in a tranquil residential location. The freedom to choose how best to fulfill their faith requirements is routinely burdened by overzealous, religiously insensitive, or actively hostile zoning and landmarking authorities.
On September 22, 2000, President Clinton signed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), which protects religious land uses from discrimination and excessive burdens, consistent with constitutional limits on federal power. The Becket Fund has developed a national reputation as the leading force litigating such cases under RLUIPA and the First Amendment, including a website dedicated exclusively to the Act.