RICHMOND, Calif. /Christian News/ — The city of Richmond has agreed to eliminate its ban on religious and church activities in its community centers after receiving a letter from ADF attorneys urging the city to cease the implementation and enforcement of its unconstitutional policy. ADF attorneys sent a letter to the mayor on behalf of Pastor Ralph Lopez after he was told by a city official that he could not rent the city’s community center for a Bible study because of a policy forbidding religious uses of the facility.

“Christian groups shouldn’t be excluded from public facilities and discriminated against for their beliefs,” said ADF Litigation Counsel Daniel Blomberg. “We commend Richmond city officials for eliminating the unconstitutional ban of religious services from the city’s policy and for immediately ceasing its enforcement while it is being redrafted to accommodate such uses. More cities should follow Richmond’s lead in taking quick action to protect the constitutional rights of the people in their communities.”

On Sept. 30, Lopez contacted the supervisor of the Richmond Recreational Department to rent the Point Richmond Community Center for Sunday morning Bible studies. The meetings were to include discussions and teaching on practical, moral, and social matters, including personal well-being, marriage, finances, and social responsibility. The community center is available for use by the general public, but Lopez was turned down because city policy did not allow churches to meet in its community centers.

Lopez immediately provided the supervisor with a decision issued this summer in the lawsuit Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries v. Glover, a case filed by ADF attorneys on behalf of a Christian group in the same county regarding a similar public access issue. In the decision, a federal district court determined that Contra Costa County officials could not prohibit a church ministry from accessing public library meeting rooms just because they considered its scheduled activities to be “religious services.”

In response to the ADF letter, the city has eliminated the religious prohibition against church and religious services at Richmond’s community centers. It has also been cooperative with Lopez as he has begun the process of applying to use the community centers.

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.