In Oklahoma, the Government Can Take Your Church

The U.S. Supreme Court opined last summer in Kelo v. City of New London that governments may force property owners to sell their property to private developers. In the wake of this eminent domain ruling, Oklahoman religion editor Carla Hinton wrote a piece on July 16 called “Churches concerned about land.” I was serving on a task force studying what the Kelo case could mean for property rights in Oklahoma, so Hinton interviewed me for her article.

“Churches, synagogues, homeless shelters – these things that are doing the Lord’s work don’t bring any tax revenue,” I told her. “They’d be a tempting target.”

Indeed they would. My friend Heather Wilhelm writes today on National Review Online that “the town of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, has plans to take Centennial Baptist – along with two other churches, several businesses, dozens of small homes, and a school – and replace them with a new ‘super center,’ rumored to include a Home Depot. It’s the kind of stuff that makes tax collectors salivate. It’s also the kind of project that brakes for no one, especially post-Kelo. ‘I had no idea this could happen in America,’ says Reverend [Roosevelt] Gildon, after spending Monday morning marching in the Sand Springs Martin Luther King Day parade.”

Says Reverend Gildon: “I guess saving souls isn’t as important as raking in money for politicians to spend.”

Popular Posts