Homeless Case Underscores a Wider Church-State Issue

The dramatic story of the Rev. Wiley Drake, the Buena Park pastor convicted this week of illegally housing the homeless, takes place against the backdrop of a powerful national debate. That debate involves a collision between the laws that apply to everyone and the religious freedom of individuals.

Any search for accommodation in the Buena Park case has given way to an ongoing game of wiles and legal stratagems between the pastor and the city. Both sides must engage more fully in finding a mutually agreeable solution to the far-reaching problem of homelessness. Orange County is notoriously short of beds to meet the need. Drake says that his faith calls him to action, in defiance of the city’s zoning rules. The city has had a lot to say about zoning and far too little about the homelessness situation.

Zoning questions with a different focus have come up in a number of instances locally and nationally. In Los Angeles’ Hancock Park neighborhood, for example, there’s a dispute over whether a large home in a residential neighborhood may be used as a temple by Orthodox Jews.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a Texas case that has drawn national attention. It centered on a Roman Catholic church’s attempt to revamp its cathedral against the wishes of historical preservationists. The case became a test of wills between Congress and the high court. In 1993, Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, intending to bypass an unpopular court ruling denying unemployment benefits to members of a Native American church who were fired from their jobs for using sacramental peyote in religious rites. In ruling last month in the Texas case, the court struck down the act, which was designed to restore a previous court standard for assessing burdens the state may impose on religion, one that was more favorable to religious practice.

Interestingly, the Supreme Court never took up the religious merits in its ruling. Rather it found that Congress, in passing the law, exceeded its authority to interpret the Constitution. There are likely to be further rounds between federal branches as advocates of a constitutional amendment stir anew in Congress.

While elements of the federal government battle over turf, the need locally for conflicting parties to seek and define their mutual interests remains clear. In Buena Park, that means finding some common ground so that a county with too few homeless beds will have a few more, while the church’s neighbors have some assurance of security.