[HPN] Portland church at center of gathering storm

[Coalition on Homelessness, SF]

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http://www.oregonlive.com:80/news/00/02/st021104.html

Portland church at center of gathering storm

Angry religious leaders and others decry a city official's order
limiting attendance at Sunnyside Centenary United Methodist

Friday, February 11, 2000

By Wade Nkrumah of The Oregonian staff

What started almost two years ago as a neighborhood vs. church spat over
a meals program for the homeless has evolved into a church vs. state
controversy centered on the First Amendment.

On Sunday, outraged and worried religious leaders from around Portland
will meet to address growing concerns about a recent city decision
limiting attendance at a Southeast Portland church.

Meanwhile, one expert on church-state issues says it is the first time
he's heard of a civil official limiting church attendance.

The situation has led religious leaders and worshippers to forge a
cross-denominational coalition as they strategize and build their case
against the city ruling involving Sunnyside Centenary United Methodist
Church.

The ire of religious leaders and worshippers was raised by Elizabeth
Normand, a city of Portland land-use hearings officer. She issued a Jan.
17 decision that, among other things, restricted attendance to 70 people
at Sunnyside, a 100-year-old church that can hold as many as 400 people.

The ruling, aimed mostly at the conditional-use permit for a meals
program, also limited other uses of the church, including how many
people could attend services and Bible study on Sunday and Wednesday
mornings.

Many observers, including Rabbi Joseph Wolf of Havurah Shalom, are
denouncing the decision as an unconstitutional infringement of religious
freedom protected by the First Amendment.

"I think very clearly the distinction being drawn is very arbitrary and
specious," Wolf said. "A church or synagogue never constitutes its
worship service to about one or two hours. The church or synagogue is
open to celebrate all week long . . . especially to dine and come to the
table with one another and offer prayer."

Religious leaders hope to broaden their base of support with the Sunday
meeting, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1838 S.W.
Jefferson St.

It will mark the second time a large gathering of religious leaders has
met to address the matter. A Jan. 31 meeting attracted about 100 people
representing many denominations and faiths.

What's amazing to Derek Davis, director of J.M. Dawson Institute of
Church-State Studies at Baylor University in Texas, is that a government
official is trying to cap attendance at a particular church.

"To be honest with you," Davis said, "this is the first case I've heard
of where a civil official attempted to limit attendance at a church.
I've never heard of it."

In fact, Davis, who is also a lawyer, said Sunnyside and the religious
community even appear to have legal precedent on their side.

"In the case of limiting church attendance, I'm not sure any court would
do that," he said. "You can't tell any church to limit its attendance.
To me, that is so personally offensive to the First Amendment. I can't
imagine any court doing it."

Normand is perplexed that her decision to limit attendance at Sunnyside
has so passionately stirred the emotions of Portland's religious
community.

"That was not the main focus of the decision and it's interesting that
this is the thing everyone is talking about," she said recently. "I'm
getting calls from citizens, newspapers, television stations, you name
it."

But she declined to explain her reasoning, saying it would be
inappropriate to comment because the matter is a "quasi-judicial
process."

"I'm a judge in this case," she said. "You don't call a judge up and
say, 'Why did you make that decision?' "

Yet, as word spreads, the mere thought of the attendance limit is
striking a nervous chord in religious leaders outside the Portland area.

David Leslie, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon,
said he was asked about it while in Central Oregon for a gathering of
clergy. He said he also received a phone call from an Episcopal bishop
in Eastern Oregon.

"They find it a bit unbelievable," he said.

Steven Strecher, superintendent of the Metro District of United
Methodist Church, said he wouldn't be surprised if the meeting, which is
open to the public, drew several hundred people.

"The issue of freedom of religious expression is a critical issue in our
society," he said. "I think this is one of those things where the entire
religious community of Portland feels very threatened and as if a
certain injustice is going on."

Normand mandated the attendance limit in placing conditions on various
church activities. She made the ruling in connection with her decision
to revoke a conditional-use permit for two weekly meal services for
people who are homeless.

Along with affecting Sunday and Wednesday morning worship service and
"affiliated activities," her ruling also places conditions on the
operation of Sunnyside's night-time shelter, a day-care center and its
Indochinese Socialization Center.

The church, in the 3500 block of Southeast Yamhill Street, has appealed
the decision to City Council, which will consider the matter March 1.

The controversy grew out of the church's long-running meals program,
which is in its 16th year. Concerns about it have escalated over the
last two years, with some Sunnyside neighborhood residents complaining
about alcohol- and drug-related activities and disturbances by several
people who attend the Wednesday dinners and Friday gatherings.

Sunnyside is one of many older neighborhoods in Portland that has begun
to gentrify in recent years and the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
had asked the city to end the services in response to complaints from a
group of 20 to 30 residents, most of whom live near the church.

Most of Normand's 30-page ruling deals with the meals programs. But it
was her relatively brief mention of restrictions on how many people
could attend worship services that propelled the situation from a
neighborhood battle to a question about constitutional rights.

Indeed, it might seem the intense attention the matter is attracting
would threaten to overshadow the status and ultimate fate of the
church's meals program, which is allowed to operate until the council
rules on the appeal.

Mark Reid, Sunnyside Church co-pastor with Tim Lewis, feels that even as
the focus has shifted, members of the religious community, at least,
consider the meals programs equally important.

"Because it's part of one piece," Reid said. "The worship and the
serving of meals have always been one piece of cloth in the history of
the church. You can't separate worship and food that we give to the
people and the housing we give to the homeless. It's easy to miss that."

But Tom Badrick, neighborhood association president and land-use
chairman, is worried arguments about religious freedom could undermine
concerns raised by some Sunnyside residents about the meals program
during a series of meetings going back to 1998.

"I'm concerned the issues that were raised through the process will not
be given proper attention," he said. "This is an opportunity for better
clarification for when livability is more important than other issues.
It's one thing to see a transient downtown once a week at a bus stop.
But it's another to see them in your yard every day."


You can reach Wade Nkrumah at 503-294-5947 or by e-mail at
wadenkrumah@news.oregonian.com.

END FORWARD

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