Orange County Church Movement

Once again an Orange County church group is gearing up to pressure local government into requiring private developers to include church sites in their plans.

The problem the churches face is not a new one. For more than a decade congregations of all denominations have sought ways to build affordable churches in a market where property is so expensive that many congregations have no place to worship.

About 10 years ago a group of ministers representing 54 churches sought local ordinances requiring “ . . . the setting aside of sufficient number of church sites . . . in locations that are reasonably prominent and visible and accessible. . . .” The call for a law to make land developers leave room for churches was sensibly ignored.

Now, a new Affiliation of Concerned Religious Communities wants to go even further. It is asking city and county officials to also set up a new “nonprofit” land-use zone so that potential church sites can be created at reduced prices. This, too, government must reject.

Public officials have not been unsympathetic--or entirely unhelpful--in dealing with the problem of putting land within financial reach of residents seeking to build churches and synagogues.

But there is a well-defined and most necessary line drawn in the U.S. Constitution that government cannot cross. A legal wall of separation has been built between church and state that forbids religious preference of any kind and wisely works to keep religion from becoming a political force.

To help religious groups find permanent homes and still stay within constitutional grounds, public officials usually include plans for churches in institutional or commercial zones, but do not give religion special treatment by mandating the inclusion of churches, temples and synagogues as a requirement for planning approval.

Earlier this year congregations in some cities, including Anaheim, Irvine, Santa Ana and Placentia, persuaded city councils to revise zoning laws to allow churches in industrial and lower-rent areas.

One member of the new religious coalition, in arguing for government help to preserve churches, said that the “only organizations independent of governmental control that have benevolent purposes are religious organizations.” The best way to safeguard that independence is to remain free of government, not beholden to it. Congregations could get better results by working harder to impress on the building industry the importance of including the spiritual element as an integral part of any complete and successful development project.