News Release
For Immediate Release: 7.17.25
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Federal Court Urged to Stop Washington City From Unlawful Actions Against a Church that Serves the Homeless
City’s actions violate the double protections guaranteed in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Seattle, WA—First Liberty Institute filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Miller v. City of Burien, a lawsuit brought by a local church against the Washington city after officials there threatened to fine the church more than $100,000 for serving homeless neighbors during the dead of winter.
You can read the brief here.
“Churches that take action to care for the homeless should be encouraged and affirmed, not harassed and fined,” said Kayla Toney, Counsel for First Liberty. “The Constitution and federal law protect against government officials who are intent on intimidating churches who want to use their property as a trusted place of safety for a vulnerable population.”
During the winter of 2023-24, Buren Free Methodist Church hosted a group of homeless neighbors in the church parking lot. Working with a local nonprofit, the church ran background checks on all the residents and followed a Code of Conduct to ensure there were no health or safety issues. Caring for the poor and needy are at the core of the church’s mission. But city officials forced the church to choose: either evict its homeless neighbors, face fines of over $100,000, or submit to an uncertain permitting process that might take all winter—with freezing temperatures that motivated the church’s desire to serve unhoused neighbors in the first place.
First Liberty is actively engaged in litigation in multiple states across the country where governments want to suppress, exclude, and redefine religious charitable conduct. In cases involving Dad’s Place in Ohio, and Gethsemani Baptist Church in Arizona, the government has argued that the ministries at issue are not legally protected because, they claim, serving those in need is not a religious act.
In the brief, attorneys state, “The City’s regulations . . . expressly recognize that use of property as a ‘Religious Facility’ is a permitted use ‘and includes related accessory uses.’ Yet the City’s position is that ministering to the homeless on the Church’s own property—serving as the hands and feet of Jesus according to the Gospel message—is not a ‘permitted use.’ That interpretation gives preference to those who confine their worship inside the four walls of their church building, while disfavoring denominations like Burien Free Methodist Church that step into their parking lot to follow the commands of Jesus.” Attorneys argue the U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected such a position, concluding “that Catholic Charities’ outreach ministry—including care for the homeless—was a core religious exercise as an expression of the faith. To hold otherwise would transgress both the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause by showing a preference for denominations that focus on worship and evangelism rather than service or outreach ministry.”
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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 or by calling 972-941-4453.
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