A Southern Baptist church is suing the border town of San Luis, Arizona, accusing city officials of harassment in a bid to shut down the congregation’s 25-year-old feeding program for the poor.
Gethsemani Baptist Church, situated in a residential zone near the U.S.-Mexico border, last week asked the federal court in Phoenix to block the city’s actions and protect the church’s rights to free practice of religion.
In September, city officials began sending notices to the church saying its food ministry violated zoning codes and could only be authorized in areas zoned for commercial or industrial use, the church’s legal filing states.
Additionally, it says Mayor Nieves G. Riedel, who was elected in late 2022, “made clear that the Church’s Food Ministry would receive no more support from the City.”
“Because of Mayor Riedel, there are people tonight who are going to go to bed without enough food,” said Jeremy Dys, a senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, the public interest law firm representing Gethsemani Baptist.
“Here’s a church who is trying to not only care for the souls of the people of San Luis but also to fill their bellies and now because of these aggressive tactics by the city, neither is happening,” Mr. Dys said in a telephone interview.
Gethsemani says that Pastor Jose Manuel Castro was fined $4,000 in late February over a delivery error in which a truck parked briefly on the street instead of at a remote location. Its filing notes that one more citation for Mr. Castro could increase to a “Class 1 Misdemeanor,” with a potential penalty of a $2,500 fine and up to six months in jail.
The church claims that the city is unfairly citing its ministry instead of any drivers who violate zoning restrictions. It says 18-wheel semi-trucks and other commercial vehicles “are frequently seen parking, loading, and unloading on residential streets and residences — sometimes, for hours or days at a time” without being similarly cited.
Neither the mayor nor public information officer Francia Alonso responded to requests for comment.
Mr. Dys said the Gethsemani’s food ministry is “the primary means by which this church has for over 30 years now cared for this local community and expressed the love of Christ to that community.”
The church says city officials are violating its First Amendment right to free exercise and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.