Bethel World Outreach Ministries v. Montgomery County Council

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that considerable evidence that current facilities inadequately serve religious needs is sufficient to show substantial burden, as is “delay, uncertainty, and expense”
• ruling that community opposition to size of two proposed church buildings implied no religious animus, only objections to large buildings in rural zone
• emphasizing that whether the denial is conditional or absolute is a factor to consider in the substantial-burden analysis
• assuming without deciding that preserving agricultural land, water quality, and open space and managing traffic and noise in the rural density transfer zone is a compelling government interest
• finding a substantial burden where insufficient space to accommodate a large congregation caused the church to have multiple, shorter services, thereby interfering with Communion and cutting short the church’s “Altar Call” practice
• applying rational basis review to a church’s claim that the denial of an application for water and sewer service and other land use decisions that prevented the construction of their church violated equal protection

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).