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Posted on 01/27/2006 10:07:31 AM PST by SirLinksalot
Government targets small black church
Oklahoma city wants to make room for tax-generating shopping area
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Posted: January 27, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A small church in Oklahoma has come up against the large hand of the state as it faces possible seizure to make room for a tax-generating shopping center.
Centennial Baptist Church has been ministering to the black community of Sand Springs for years, led by its pastor, Roosevelt "Rosey" Gildon. But the city says the church building, which sees about 50 congregants gather on Sunday mornings, is in the way of progress – Sand Springs' controversial "Vision 2025" project. The project reportedly is to be anchored by a Home Depot.
Ousting a church from its building has become possible for city officials thanks to last summer's Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London, in which the justices cleared the way for a government to seize private land to be turned over to private developers.
Though the practice of eminent domain is provided for in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, the Kelo case is significant because the seizure is for private development and not for "public use," such as a highway or bridge.
"The Lord didn't send me here to build a mini-mall," Gildon told the New York Times.
Sand Springs wants to redevelop the area west of Tulsa where some of the buildings, though not the church, are rundown. New businesses will pull in more tax money to the city.
"I'm open to anyone telling me how we're going to pay for city services," Mayor Bob Walker is quoted as saying. Walker says he hopes to negotiate a fair price will all affected property owners so eminent domain proceedings are not necessary.
But Gildon says his church can't afford to move, even if it were to accept the city's offer of $142,000 for the church and two adjoining lots.
"After I heard the news, we started looking to see if we could move," Gildon told Heather Wilhelm for a column in National Review. "I just don't think we can afford it. It's too expensive. And if we can't move, and they take our building, what happens to the church? If we leave, who is going to minister to the black community in Sand Springs?"
Added the pastor: "I guess saving souls isn't as important as raking in money for politicians to spend."
Gildon has led the church for 14 years. The building, only 7 years old, was built for $90,000.
The minister, 48, works full time for a machine tool manufacturer and says he's paid $520 a month to also pastor his church.
The church is receiving the help of Americans for Limited Government, an organizing pushing ballot initiatives in several states to limit eminent domain powers.
While Gildon has received national media attention, he warned congregants recently not to get caught up in the issue.
"I've had to say, 'Don't let it go to your head,' " he told the Times. "We're not celebrities. We're here for God."
Ping!
A Church?!?
If I was the pastor, I'd meekly tell the city that can have the property for that price immediately AFTER THE RAPTURE.
Sounds like "prohibiting the free exercise thereof" to me.
Give a developer and a city a way to get around the market and they'll screw you every time.
Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The Founders cannot have intended this perverse result.
It's not the first. From other articles, there ae several churches that are in the developer's crosshairs.
Bingo. The government is infringing on their right to freely exercise their religion by depriving them of the property they purchased for that purpose and refusing to offer compensation sufficient to obtain a new location in the same neighborhood. Seems to me that this church needs to get itself a good constitutional lawyer and a few donors willing to pay them. I'm sure there are plenty of people willing to pitch in to support an opportunity to reign in Kelo.
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What kind of a nut would paint a church black?...way too hot
in the summertime...
When living is easy..fish are a'jumping...and the cotton is high...
CLEAN 'EM OUT!
Black people don't need no church. Not when we can have a Home Depot for the good of the entire community.
[/extreme sarcasm]
When is this anti-Constitutional law going to be over turned by Congress?
What hath Souter wrought?
this is typical of the state of oklahoma. Absolutely one of the most corrupt cess-pool state governments in history.
It won't, the Dems and RINOs don't want to overturn it.
In one way or another, all state governments are.
I'm not an Okie--but I heartily disagree with your statement. I lived in Oklahoma for years, and never found this to be true. My opinion was that the politicians there weren't all that bright, by and large, but I never had the thought that a lot of them were corrupt.
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