{"id":21611,"date":"2024-04-04T10:07:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T14:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=21611"},"modified":"2024-04-04T13:55:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:55:43","slug":"arizona-church-sues-government-for-allegedly-stopping-pastor-from-feeding-those-in-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/04\/arizona-church-sues-government-for-allegedly-stopping-pastor-from-feeding-those-in-need","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Church Sues Government For Allegedly Stopping Pastor From Feeding Those in Need"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_21623\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21623\" style=\"width: 550px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/04\/church-banned-from-serving-01_credit-Adobe-StockInset-AZFamily-_-Arizona-News-YouTube.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-21623\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/04\/church-banned-from-serving-01_credit-Adobe-StockInset-AZFamily-_-Arizona-News-YouTube-550x413.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21623\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adobe Stock | Inset: AZFamily _ Arizona News \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An Arizona church is suing the City of San Luis and charging officials with allegedly stopping its charitable food distribution to families and people in need. Conservative legal firm First Liberty Institute and law firm Snell and Wilmer L.L.P. filed for the District of Arizona on behalf of Gethsemani Baptist Church. Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty, told CBN News that the church, led by Pastor Jose Manuel Castro, is close to the U.S.\u2013Mexico border and has long served those in need.<\/p>\n<p>Dys said, noting people all over the region have benefited from Gethsemani Baptist Church, \u201cHere\u2019s a church that has, for the last 25 or 30 years, been present in that community and caring for its people by handing them for when they need it.\u201d The attorney said the house of worship recently found itself in the crosshairs over truck deliveries that reportedly violate city codes in the church\u2019s zoning district.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/2023\/12\/28\/san-luis-church-stops-food-ministry-following-city-code-enforcement\/\">According to AZ Family<\/a>, local municipal codes state that commercial vehicles of over one-and-a-half tons cannot be in residential lots.<\/p>\n<p>An incident last summer in which a truck hit a fence outside a nearby home and neighbors complained, reportedly sparked code enforcement, according to AZ Family. The church purportedly covered repairs, but the situation has devolved. Increased tensions have led the church to pause food outreach and take legal action. According to First Liberty, the City of San Luis has \u201cissued [two] fines and threatened criminal charges for parking transport trucks in the church\u2019s parking lot.\u201d Dys said this is a shocking development after a previously friendly relationship between the city and the church.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/L0BuZZ7NUzc?si=sseE9PdV0_p6E40z\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Dys said, \u201cThe church has done what it has always done and so there\u2019s really been no change on the end of the church. They\u2019ve just been simply trying to care for people in their community.\u201d The attorney said the election of a new mayor seemed to coincide with Gethsemani Baptist Church\u2019s newfound struggles \u2014 a battle that has caused the church to pause its longstanding food outreach. He said the battle seems to be based on the church\u2019s use of a semi-truck to deliver the food for outreaches. Dys said ordinances preclude the church from having the truck on the church\u2019s property, despite the outreach unfolding there since 1999 purportedly without significant incident.<\/p>\n<p>Dys also charged that Gethsemani Baptist Church is being \u201csingled out\u201d and ticketed while at least one other establishment is allowed to receive food deliveries similarly. A press release states, \u201cThe church and its pastor cannot afford the city\u2019s heavy fines and fear that more citations could result in the pastor going to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s only this church that is being singled out, ticketed and fined for trying to feed the hungry,\u201d he said, noting the pastor of the church is worried these charges could intensify. \u201cThe church has been forced to suspend their ministry until this lawsuit resolves the problem.\u201d Dys said he is hopeful the lawsuit will enable the church to resume its ministry to those in need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Arizona church is suing the City of San Luis and charging officials with allegedly stopping its charitable food distribution to families and people in need. Conservative legal firm First Liberty Institute and law firm Snell and Wilmer L.L.P. filed for the District of Arizona on behalf of Gethsemani Baptist Church. Jeremy Dys, senior counsel&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":21623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2444,32,2391,4,2111],"tags":[2540,3854],"class_list":["post-21611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america","category-christian","category-church","category-faith","category-hunger","tag-church-news","tag-gethsemani-baptist-church"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Arizona Church Sues Government For Allegedly Stopping Pastor From Feeding Those in Need<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An Arizona church is suing the City of San Luis and charging officials with allegedly stopping its charitable food distribution.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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