Getty Images/Exkalibur New Jersey-based Mendham Methodist Church and Zion Lutheran Church Long Valley have filed a federal lawsuit against Morris County, alleging religious discrimination after the county excluded them from the Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund. The legal action , undertaken by First Liberty Institute, Jones Day, and the Pepperdine Religious Liberty Clinic, contests the county’s policy change that now prevents churches from accessing the grant. Grant recipients have included a variety of establishments such as a theater, a Masonic lodge, and a restaurant, but centuries-old churches are no longer eligible for the historic preservation program, First Liberty said in a statement shared with The Christian Post. First Liberty’s Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys called it a form of religious discrimination and unconstitutional. In 2018, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Morris County’s practice of providing historic preservation grants to churches was in violation of the New Jersey Constitution, overturning a lower court ruling. That’s when Morris County implemented a policy change that excluded churches from participating in the program. However, since the 2018 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has clarified that the federal Constitution forbids excluding religious institutions from public funding programs solely due to their religious […]
