Because parking in front of the church door is a religious right

[dasgeh]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/10/14/d-c-church-says-a-bike-lane-would-infringe-upon-its-constitutional-rights-of-religious-freedom/

AKA, if you set a bad precedent, you will regret it in the future

I wodner what they say to all the other people who park in the spots in front of the church and infringe on their religious rights.

[KWL]

I neglected to follow my own advice to never read the comments. I was pleasantly surprised at the general reaction to this.

[jrenaut]

@KWL 126197 wrote:

I neglected to follow my own advice to never read the comments. I was pleasantly surprised at the general reaction to this.

Who knew “scofflaw cyclist” ranked above “church illegal parker” on the WaPo commenter hierarchy?

[83b]

Heh. They can’t fight the demographic tides. Another church on H Street NE just announced this week that it’s being razed for condo development. We’ve got to be pretty close to the tipping point where the cycling community can make at least as much political ruckus as a church, which hopefully will be enough to see that our needs are addressed without unnecessary compromises to any facilities design.

As an aside, my neighborhood contains a large number of similar churches that serve predominantly non-resident congregations. And I have very strong opinions about what terrible neighbors they are.

Edit to add a followup thought: The church is apparently being represented pro bono by DLA Piper. I genuinely can’t believe that the firm allowed a letter this objectively terrible to go out on their letterhead.

[creadinger]

@83(b) 126240 wrote:

Edit to add a followup thought: The church is apparently being represented pro bono by DLA Piper. I genuinely can’t believe that the firm allowed a letter this objectively terrible to go out on their letterhead.

Liberty University law grads have no shame when it comes to conflating religious, constitutional and civil rights. They must have a few on their payroll somewhere.

[Rockford10]

@creadinger 126243 wrote:

Liberty University law grads have no shame when it comes to conflating religious, constitutional and civil rights. They must have a few on their payroll somewhere.

If only it was that easy; the lawyer who signed the letter is a Harvard grad.

[83b]

@Rockford10 126248 wrote:

If only it was that easy; the lawyer who signed the letter is a Harvard grad.

If it was handled anything like the pro bono issues I staffed while at a law firm, I’d be impressed if she even skimmed it. The way this is blowing up online, I really pity the poor first year who got paroled from doc review to write some little pro bono letter and thought they’d use it as their chance to show their quality.

[DrP]

So, this church is near the convention center. Thus near a metro stop. Shouldn’t all those folks coming in from the suburbs be parking at a suburban metro stop and coming into church via metro? Those more local can probably also metro and bus, walk or, shock, bike using the new bike lanes. If taking the metro (bus or trains), they can spend that much more time praying (which is needed at times on the metro – perhaps they could help Metro solve its problems).

[mstone]

@DrP 126251 wrote:

So, this church is near the convention center. Thus near a metro stop. Shouldn’t all those folks coming in from the suburbs be parking at a suburban metro stop and coming into church via metro?

Metro on the weekend? Talk about waiting in the wilderness for 40 years…

[Emm]

I thought this was an onion article when I saw it last night. I’m surprised the church doesn’t have a deal with a local garage or other parking lot for their congregants. We go to Holy Trinity in Georgetown, and parking there is miserable plus it’s not metro accessible. But you can park for free at a local school and just walk a few blocks to church which makes life easy. Or bike there like we have from work or home a few times .

I’m not a lawyer, but I have a hard time seeing how well this argument would hold up in court–I’m not sure parking illegally really counts as part of your religious liberty. Maybe some of the lawyers here can comment on it’s merit though.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Taking these arguments to their (il)logical conclusion, any restriction on parking or changes in road design that negatively affect parking in the vicinity of a church violates the First Amendment. It might be time for WABA to call in Lucien Greaves and the Satanic Temple to come and make the counterclaim that the prioritization of cars on public streets violates Satanists’ deeply held religious beliefs.

[MFC]

@Emm 126260 wrote:

I thought this was an onion article when I saw it last night. I’m surprised the church doesn’t have a deal with a local garage or other parking lot for their congregants. We go to Holy Trinity in Georgetown, and parking there is miserable plus it’s not metro accessible. But you can park for free at a local school and just walk a few blocks to church which makes life easy. Or bike there like we have from work or home a few times .

I’m not a lawyer, but I have a hard time seeing how well this argument would hold up in court–I’m not sure parking illegally really counts as part of your religious liberty. Maybe some of the lawyers here can comment on it’s merit though.

It’s the spaghetti principle of law – throw something against the wall and see if it sticks.

[GovernorSilver]

“DDOT is hosting an open house for the proposed bike lanes where residents can provide input on Oct. 22 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Shaw Library, 1630 Seventh St. NW.”

I’m tempted to attend, just to observe.

[83b]

The open house last night went as badly as could be expected. They can’t turn these worthless neighbors into condos fast enough.

Can some big D.C. churches fight off a bike lane? They are bringing large crowds to try.

Opponents of 6th Street bike lane overwhelm meeting, called early due to crowding

Edit to add best article so far: DC’s Latest Bike Lane Fight Is Not About Bikes

(I couldn’t attend because I was instead at a different community meeting about the dramatic rise in violent crime on Capitol Hill.)

[Tania]

@83(b) 126635 wrote:

They can’t turn these worthless neighbors into condos fast enough.

Really?

[Author]

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