A church in the Arizona city of San Luis is being forced to sue local officials to feed the poor, as it alleges that those city officials have blocked its charitable food distributions to those in need. The First Liberty Institute, a pro-freedom non-profit that provides legal help for those fighting for their rights, particularly their First Amendment rights, has gotten involved in helping the church.
According to a press release from the First Liberty Institute, the Gethsemani Baptist Church has fed the poor families in their community for over 25 years, and recently was providing foot to about 200 needy families. But then, over a fence damaged by a delivery truck, the city shut down the church’s attempts to deliver food to the poor.
That press release goes on to note that the city sent a letter to the church in the fall of 2023 in which it demanded the church stop using semi-trucks for food delivery at its property. The church asked if it could use smaller trucks, and the city not only refused the request, but demanded that the church stop its food supply program entirely.
The pastor, Pastor Jose Manuel Castro, tried to cut back the food ministry to comply with the city’s demands while still feeding the poor, but the city decided that wasn’t enough. The new Mayor of San Luis, Nieves Riedel, took action to further shut down the food handouts, and when Pastor Joe tried handing out emergency food supplies to a small number of people at the church, he was issued four citations. He got four more when truck parked in front of the church for just a few minutes.
Jeremy Dys, the senior counsel for First Liberty, commented on the matter to CBN News, saying, “Here’s a church that has, for the last 25 or 30 years, been present in that community and caring for its people by handing them food when they need it.” Dys added, “The church has done what it has always done and so there’s really been no change on the end of the church. They’ve just been simply trying to care for people in their community.”
Continuing, he noted that it was a change in city policy that precipitated the problem, saying, “What changed, it seems, is the mayor … was elected to office and very promptly kicked the church out of the city’s warehouses. They had been using their warehouses for storage of food until they could move it to their property to hand it out.”
First Liberty, emphasizing how ridiculous the situation is and how it conflicts with what government should be doing, notes, “What Pastor Jose and his congregation do is a labor of love. Government should support—not punish—houses of worship that do essential work for their communities.” Continuing, it notes, “Harassment and religious discrimination should not happen in America. That’s why we’re going to federal court to defend Pastor Jose and Gethsemani Baptist Church.”
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Watch local media report on the matter here:
Featured image credit: First Liberty Institute