An evangelical church in Colorado is suing its local government. “The Rock” is seeking an injunction after its town issued an order against the church using a pair of camping trailers, which were situated behind the church building, to help the homeless.
Castle Rock, Colorado, is situated on a rolling prairie at the edge of the American Midwest, on the road between Colorado Springs and Denver. On the outskirts of the town, Joe Ridenour lived in a donated RV for a year after a pandemic-related job loss.
Living in the RV, Joe said, allowed him to remain in Colorado instead of returning to his hometown of Kansas City, where his old crowd would have sucked him back into a life of drug addiction and dissolution. The trailer was provided to him by The Rock church and, according to Joe, it saved his life. He now works at the county fairgrounds doing maintenance, and lives in a room he rents from a friend he met at the church.
Last year, however, the town government in Castle Rock ordered The Rock—a non-denominational evangelical church—to cease and desist from its efforts to shelter needy people in Joe’s old RV and in another camp trailer located on its property. The order cites local zoning regulations as justification for its move. Church property is not zoned for residential use, and RV living is explicitly disallowed in Castle Rock.
The Rock responded by filing suit against the Castle Rock township.
The suit echoes arguments made by other churches from Ohio to Oregon who seek to serve the homeless. Helping those in need, says the suit, is a religious activity and thus it falls under the protection of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The filings are embroidered with numerous Biblical references and quotations which exhort the faithful to care for those in need. The suit also points out that Douglas County, in which Castle Rock is situated, has no homeless shelters despite being one of the richest counties in the United States.
