2nd Circuit Upholds Church's Right To Shelter Homeless Outside

On Wednesday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church v. City of New York, (2nd Cir., April 26, 2006), upheld a permanent injunction granted by a federal district judge in 2004 barring New York City police from dispersing or arresting homeless people sleeping out-of-doors on stairways of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. The court below in granting the injunction had found that the Church's practice of allowing homeless persons to sleep on its property is an exercise of sincerely held religious beliefs. [LEXIS link to trial court opinion.] The Becket Fund, which filed an amicus brief in the case, has background information on its website.