Ohio pastor sues city after he was charged for housing homeless people at church
NY Post
An Ohio pastor is suing his city after officials ordered him to stop sheltering homeless people at his rented church building — and even charged the preacher with violating the city’s zoning codes.
Chris Avell, pastor of Dad’s Place church in Bryan, Ohio, argues that city officials are trying to stifle him from exercising his religious beliefs by preventing him from housing those in need of shelter in his 43-page complaint filed in the United States District Court for Northern Ohio on Monday.
He also claims that the city officials waged a months-long harassment campaign to try to force him to evict the homeless seeking refuge at his church.
“Instead of prosecuting a pastor in an effort to drive his congregation from her sight, Mayor [Carrie] Schlade should be supporting a church trying to care for the marginalized in her community,” Avell’s attorney Jonathan Dys said in a news conference after filing the lawsuit.
“The Constitution and the law demand nothing less.”
But Bryan city officials say Avell has created a dangerous situation at the church, which is allegedly in violation of fire code and where police have been called in for reports of overdoses, disturbing the peace and sexual assault.
