by Jorge Gomez • 2 minutes
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently filed a statement in federal court supporting our client, Grace New England, a small, home-based church in Weare, New Hampshire.
Pastor Howard Kaloogian planted the church a couple of years ago. It’s part of Grace Community Church, whose main campus is in Houston. The congregation meets at Pastor Howard’s home—specifically in his barn—every Saturday.
The barn is fully renovated. Pastor Howard added pews, a pulpit and a heater to make sure his congregation can worship comfortably. It’s usually no more than 30 people gathered at once.
But town officials are threatening to impose fines to stop the church from gathering in the barn. They’re also making the Pastor jump through endless hoops just to have people over for worship and prayer.
First Liberty filed a lawsuit asking a federal district court to stop the town from taking any further action.
Similar to the arguments in our lawsuit, the DOJ’s statement points out the town is violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). That federal law protects individuals and religious institutions from discriminatory land-use regulations.
The DOJ argues there were no issues when secular assemblies and events were held in the barn. But once it was used for religious services, the town started making restrictive and discriminatory zoning demands.
“RLUIPA protects the freedom of religious groups to worship without undue government interference,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “When localities threaten fines against religious groups to force them to undertake unnecessary land-use review, RLUIPA offers them an avenue for relief through the courts. The Civil Rights Division stands ready to protect the fundamental religious freedom rights of all Americans.”
🚨 BREAKING: A small, home-based church in New Hampshire was facing fines from a local government for worshipping on their own property…
– and is now being DEFENDED by U.S. Assistant Attorney Harmeet Dhillon and the Trump administration!
Trump is FIGHTING for Christians!!… pic.twitter.com/uDBNhN4Pwt
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 30, 2025
Criminalizing Compassion: Pastors and Churches Are Under Attack
Houses of worship and pastors across America are being attacked for living out their faith, ministering to their congregations and caring for the most vulnerable. We can’t allow this discrimination to go unchecked. These threats are very real and very dangerous, not to mention illegal and unconstitutional.
Telling a pastor—or anyone—that he can’t use his home to get together with others to pray and worship betrays everything religious freedom is about.
We need faithful Americans like you to come alongside Pastor Kaloogian so that he and all pastors can care for their flock without being punished by the government.
Please give to First Liberty today. Together, we can fight to protect the freedoms of churches, pastors and all people of faith across our country.
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