Write 2 page essay on the topic Land Use & Religion.Religious groups and their supporters welcomed the RLUIPA, as the exercise of religion without a physical place of worship was as good as impossible

Write 2 page essay on the topic Land Use & Religion.

Religious groups and their supporters welcomed the RLUIPA, as the exercise of religion without a physical place of worship was as good as impossible, and therefore any house of worship needs to use land. Municipal authorities have had a tendency to restrict land use by religious groups, as they fail to generate retail and tax revenues,

and thereby affect the fortunes of the municipality. It was the impunity with which zoning officials discriminated against religious groups that sought to use land for religious assembly purposes that laid the foundation for RLUIPA. Thus RLUIPA provided the means for religious groups to seek relief from such discriminatory practices of the zoning officials.

The opponents of RLUIPA argue that the RLUIPA acts against the provisions of equality. They contend that the provisions of RLUIPA virtually make the property owners’ second-class citizens, and cannot exercise their rights. The example that they cite is that religious groups can enter into a single-family residential neighborhood to open a large day care center or a three-story synagogue, or a mega-church, even though it is unable to satisfy land use rules, by flaunting the provisions of RLUIPA. This is what has happened at Airmont, New York.

The Issue at Airmont, New York:

Hillside Avenue in Airmont, New York consists of century old house and new mansion homes, presenting a single-family residential neighborhood. In this environment the Congregation of Mischknois Lavier Yakov Orthodox Jews plans to build a 170-student dormitory on 19 acres of land, along with its yeshiva.