Court ruling supports Markham church

A federal appeals court ruling bolsters the case of a small Markham church that has been battling that city in its efforts to keep operating, an attorney for the church said.

Markham officials have separately been seeking in Cook County Circuit Court an injunction to stop Church of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from holding services in a converted home, but a ruling on that injunction has been delayed while a separate case concerning the church is being heard in federal court.

In its Jan. 17 decision, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a federal judge’s ruling that had favored the city and sent the case back to federal court for reconsideration.

An attorney representing Markham did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

The church has operated froma home at 16018 Spaulding Ave. for more than 15 years and has about 25 to 30 members, according to Noel Sterett, an attorney for the church. Markham filed suit in circuit court in November 2012 seeking an injunction to stop the church from holding worship services.

The church was initially denied a permit by the city to operate, then later granted a conditional permit, Sterett said. The church filed a lawsuit in federal court in the summer of 2013, alleging among other things that Markham’s zoning code unfairly treats religious and non-religious uses differently.

Reginald McCracken, the church’s pastor, had bought the home in 1985 as a personal residence, and the congregation

began holding worship services there in 2003, according to the appeals court.

The pastor later bought another house near the church property, and also owns two adjacent properties where church members park for worship services, Sterett said.

Adequate parking for parishioners was among the issues Markham had raised in seeking to deny the church permission to hold services.

While the church has been able to continue holding services while the court cases continue, the uncertainty has “hurt the congregation” and made it difficult for it to build its base of parishioners, Sterett said.

The dispute mirrors obstacles that had been faced by another church, Original Bible Church, which had to go to court and was ultimately successful.

The church was twice denied permission by Markham to hold services in a building at 3509 W. 159th St., which the church had bought andwas rehabbing to hold worship services.

In that case and the current Church of Our Lord case, it was alleged that Markham had violated the federal Religious Land Use& Institutionalized Persons Act, which requires municipalities to treat religious assemblies on equal terms with nonreligious assemblies, such as movie theaters.

The federal judge who earlier heard the Church of Our Lord case didn’t specifically address that, and it is one of the issues that would be decided when the matter is assigned to a judge for reconsideration, Sterett said.

“Does the church have the right to be at that property?” he said of a key issue to be addressed.

The appeals court took the unusual step of requiring that the judge who originally considered the case not be assigned to hear it this time, the lawyer said.

In the new review of the case, a judge would also be asked to consider whether the church should receive monetary damages, Sterett said.