A Michigan judge has ordered a community center to allow New Life Family Church to hold worship services.
Welton Smith, pastor of New Life, had been renting the community center every Sunday. When members of the commission realized the nature of the activity, they took action to stop the worship services at the center.
A Wayne County Circuit judge blocked the decision Friday until the matter could be addressed at a June 28 hearing.
Richard Mack, attorney for the plaintiffs, said the commission's decision is a clear violation of the constitutional protections of religious worship.
"This is 2007, and this blatantly lawless behavior is truly shocking," he said in a statement. "The very first amendment in our nation's Constitution was written with this exact situation in mind: preventing politicians and the government from suppressing religious worship."
