U.S. Department
of Justice
Hope Rising Community Church v. Borough of Clarion (W.D. Pa.)
On March 3, 2025, the Justice Department filed a statement of interest in Hope Rising Community Church v. Borough of Clarion, No. 2:24-cv-01504 (W.D. Pa.), a lawsuit alleging that the Borough violated RLUIPA by enacting and enforcing zoning provisions that treat religious uses less favorably than similar secular assemblies. The lawsuit alleges that the Church has outgrown its current facility and that the only suitable property in the Borough is located in the Borough’s C-2 Commercial District. This District does not allow houses of worship, but permits nonreligious assembly uses like theaters and civic/cultural buildings. When the Church approached the Borough about using the property for religious purposes, Borough officials allegedly told the Church that the Borough would not grant zoning approval and that the Borough did not “need any more Churches.” The Borough filed a motion to dismiss the Church’s lawsuit, arguing in part that the Church had failed to properly allege an equal terms claim under RLUIPA and that the Church was not sufficiently injured by the Borough’s conduct to assert such a claim. The statement of interest refutes these contentions, explaining that the Church has properly alleged an equal terms claim and that the Church, which cannot develop its proposed religious facility, has suffered a concrete injury.