News Release
For Immediate Release: 4.14.26
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Alabama City Stops Rehabilitation Ministry from Helping Men Overcome Life-Controlling Problems
The city denied the faith-based ministry a special use permit while allowing private clubs and other assemblies the right to operate.
Rainsville, AL—First Liberty Institute and the law firms Haynes and Boone, LLP and Wallace, Jordan, Ratliff & Brandt, LLC sent a demand letter to the City of Rainsville, AL after Total Recovery Ministries was denied a permit to use its property for a discipleship ministry for men struggling with various addictions. The city also sent a “cease-and-desist” demanding that all ministry efforts be stopped.
You can read the letter here.
“It’s puzzling why the City of Rainsville seeks to shut down Total Recovery Ministries whose efforts in the community help men become more valuable members of society,” said Ryan Gardner, Senior Counsel for First Liberty. “The First Amendment protects the free exercise of religious expression and compassionate practices that Total Recovery seeks to provide men.”
“The program provided by Total Recovery should be encouraged, rather than excluded,” said Chris Knight, Partner at Haynes and Boone. “By providing shelter, assistance, and training to men at no cost to the taxpayer, Total Recovery is contributing to the overall well-being of the community.”
“The city should wholeheartedly support an organization like Total Recovery that supports men in need rather than denying them the resources for a better life,” said Sean Pierce, Partner with Wallace, Jordan, Ratliff & Brandt, L.L.C. “It’s indefensible that a city would purposefully stop a men’s ministry simply because they are religious.”
Total Recovery Ministries (“TRM”) operates a program that serves men seeking to overcome life-controlling problems and helps them to lead productive lives centered on faith in Jesus Christ. In October 2022, TRM purchased a residential structure for its discipleship program for men overcoming addiction and other life-controlling problems and sought a variance to use the facility as residential property. The city rejected the variance and then sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding that TRM cease its ministry within 30 days. The United States Department of Justice has launched an investigation to determine the city’s compliance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA)”, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”) and the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”).
In the letter, attorneys state, “The City’s . . . continuing efforts to block Total Recovery from functioning—and existing—is unjustified. This deliberate prohibition directly violates state and federal law and Total Recovery’s constitutionally protected freedoms.”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact John Manning at media@firstliberty.org.
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