Posted on 07/25/2006 10:26:06 PM PDT by Coleus
The way Joe Fabics sees it, he has the right to choose who lives under his roof with him. His choice: God-fearing Christians. But state officials are investigating whether Fabics is violating housing discrimination laws by asking tenants in his New Brunswick house to sign leases with phrases such as, "This is a Christian household" and "If you hate God, do not move in."
"I try to tell people to believe in God and the Ten Commandments, not the desecration of today's teachings," he said. "I'm just telling them that this is a Christian household and that if they don't believe in God, they will feel uncomfortable. Most people understand that and don't try to push their way in. This is not communism."
But it might be discrimination, according to state officials. New Jersey law "makes it unlawful to refuse to rent, show or sell property based on a person's race, creed, color" or many other factors. It allows landlords to have prospective tenants fill out applications, but they cannot include any reference to factors including religion.
Frank Vespa-Papaleo, director of New Jersey's Division on Civil Rights, would not say if Fabics appears to have violated the law, saying his office has just begun looking into the matter. But in general terms, he said, "It is a clear violation of state and federal housing laws to deny rentals to individuals of one religion or another, or to require that people be of a particular religion."
Fabics insists that because he lives in the two-family house, along with four tenants, his building is an owner-occupied dwelling and he can legally rent -- or not rent -- to whomever he chooses. "I don't want people telling me what to believe," he said. "Is there anything wrong with Hungarians living with Hungarians, or Jewish people living with Jewish people? What's wrong with Christians living with other Christians?"
Vespa-Papaleo said there are narrow exemptions in state law for owner-occupants, but could not say whether they might apply to Fabics' case. Fabics has two religious statues that he says miraculously weep holy tears. "I have tons of evidence that this is indeed God's house," he said. "I've been working on God's stuff for 14 years now."
But New Brunswick officials claim he has also been operating an illegal rooming house, and issued him a summons charging him with violating a local ordinance. He is due in Municipal Court Aug. 2 to fight the charges. The determination as to whether Fabics' home is a two-family home or a rooming house also will have an impact on whether the civil rights division decides to pursue the case, Vespa-Papaleo said.
Fabics said he added the language about God to his leases because past tenants have said whatever he wanted to hear in order to rent there. "People lie to me, and then when they move in, they don't care about God or morality or anything," he said. "I don't want people that use drugs, alcoholics, people that lie." He also doesn't want unmarried tenants spending the night with a boyfriend or girlfriend. "That's against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church," he said, but "I can't control that."
Fabics said if someone insists on moving in without affirming a belief in God, he will let them, but only after making his own feelings clear. One of his tenants is Muslim, and affirmed a belief in God before moving in, he said. Richard Zuckerman, a former tenant who rented from Fabics for six months, said he loved living there. "What Joe said to me was, 'If you don't like God, don't move in,' " he said. "He's a devout Roman Catholic. He goes to church every morning. I respect that. I paid my rent and we got along well. We had no problems. It was enjoyable here."
Yeah Fabrics, don't you know that your property is controlled by the government? /sarcasm/
I wonder what agitator brought this to public notice in the first place.
Hmmm, I wonder. Naw, not anymore.
I think the regulations on a roommate situation where you share living areas, should be different than renting a piece of property in it's entirety.
He needs to be reminded that he's a serf, and his private property is designed to promote the Marxist common good as defined by the state.
On the other side, the landlord could get toether with his friends and write a revolutionary statement reminding the state that there is no confiscation without compensation.
A more common problem is being forced to rent to people who are shacking up. No landlord should be forced to be an accessory to immorality.
Civil rights legislation was put together to cure one particular ill, that of racial discrimination. It now has taken a life of its own, far removed from the original intent.
I don't know if we are too far gone to even attempt fixing this. One reasonable solution would be that if a business is a place of public accomodation, like a hotel or a restaurant, then it may not discriminate on religion. Even then it should be fine for hotels to refuse to accomodate unwed couples that want to share a bed. Certainly, if this is to be called a free country, one can set up even the most extravagant condition for a private rental or a private hire.
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