Attorney General Alan Wilson defends religious liberty at U.S. Supreme Court

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Attorney General Alan Wilson announced today that he has joined a 20-state coalition to ask the U.S. Supreme Court, led by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, to clear the way for a Northern Kentucky church to build an outdoor shrine on its property. In the Kentucky-led brief, the states urge the nation’s highest court to take up the case and underscore the fundamental protections of religious practice under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).

The Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist is a Roman Catholic religious order that operates Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Park Hills, Kentucky. The order received zoning approval from the City in 2021 to build a modest shrine offering a quiet place for meditation and worship before and after Mass. Neighbors who opposed the shrine brought a lawsuit, and the Kentucky Supreme Court eventually blocked the construction over Attorney General Coleman’s strong objections.

“The freedom to worship is not confined to speech,” Attorney General Wilson stated. “Churches and places of worship should not be burdened by laws intended to limit their ability to build religious structures. I’ll continue to fight for the right of every South Carolinian to worship freely as our Founders intended.”

Congress unanimously passed the RLUIPA in 2000, and President Bill Clinton signed it into law. The law was meant to ensure that governments do not impose substantial burdens on religious organizations through zoning laws. Unfortunately, many courts—and now the Kentucky Supreme Court—have misinterpreted the law and infringed on Americans’ religious liberty.

Attorney General Wilson and the other attorneys general are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up this case and provide clarity to people of faith and religious organizations across the country about their rights under the RLUIPA.

Attorney General Wilson was joined by attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.

You can read the brief here.