{"id":1004081548,"date":"2013-08-08T08:27:37","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T16:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/synd.yardi.com\/?p=156998"},"modified":"2022-12-03T17:11:10","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T01:11:10","slug":"conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

A conservative legal group has jumped into the First Amendment fray over Oklahoma City\u2019s plans to lease or acquire part of a church for a senior wellness center.<\/p>\n

The Liberty Institute offered a letter of support to the city\u2019s plans to set up the facility at Putnam City Baptist Church. The letter came in response to the American Civil Liberty Union\u2019s contention that the proposal would violate constitutional barriers to separation of church and state.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter reviewing relevant facts of the case, we concluded that the ACLU’s concerns are either moot or unfounded. The mere fact that the City endeavors to lease or purchase a portion of the Church’s property does not create an Establishment Clause violation under the First Amendment to the United State Constitution,\u201d wrote Michael Berry, an attorney for the Liberty Institute.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kiesel, executive director of ACLU\u2019s Oklahoma City office, told the city council last month that using church property for the senior center could create an overlap between public and religious purposes in violation of First Amendment prohibitions against the establishment of religion in public facilities, according to the Oklahoman<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Kiesel raised concerns about plans to offer Bible study classes at the center, hire staff according to the church\u2019s own practices and operate the center by church hours.<\/p>\n

At that time, the church\u2019s pastor, the Rev. Bill Hulse, acknowledged that the original plan had been drawn up in haste, leading to the impression that the proposal violated the First Amendment\u2019s establishment clause, the Oklahoman<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n

However, Hulse said, the church had taken steps to avoid a conflict by starting a non-profit group to operate the center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The nonprofit legal group, Liberty Institute, recently announced that it has submitted a letter of support to the City of Oklahoma City for its decision to lease or purchase a portion of the Putnam City Baptist Church in order to establish a Metropolitan Area Projects 3 senior wellness center. The City had been threatened for its decision by the ACLU, but Liberty Institute attorneys reviewed the subject and concluded that the City’s plans comply with constitutional standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":264,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21742],"tags":[1815],"class_list":["post-1004081548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest","tag-national"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nConservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The nonprofit legal group, Liberty Institute, recently announced that it has submitted a letter of support to the City of Oklahoma City for its decision to lease or purchase a portion of the Putnam City Baptist Church in order to establish a Metropolitan Area Projects 3 senior wellness center. The City had been threatened for its decision by the ACLU, but Liberty Institute attorneys reviewed the subject and concluded that the City’s plans comply with constitutional standards.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-08T16:27:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-04T01:11:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gabriel Circiog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gabriel Circiog\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dc807179924e7fea3aeab259237f45a5\"},\"headline\":\"Conservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-08T16:27:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-04T01:11:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":299,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"National\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\\\/\",\"name\":\"Conservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center - Commercial Property Executive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-08T16:27:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-04T01:11:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dc807179924e7fea3aeab259237f45a5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Conservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Commercial Property Executive\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dc807179924e7fea3aeab259237f45a5\",\"name\":\"Gabriel Circiog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9ef95d778eb3faf572b606f8833d578447ec31abbcf305efdfef40d94aefcacc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9ef95d778eb3faf572b606f8833d578447ec31abbcf305efdfef40d94aefcacc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9ef95d778eb3faf572b606f8833d578447ec31abbcf305efdfef40d94aefcacc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gabriel Circiog\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/gabriel\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Conservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center - Commercial Property Executive","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Conservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center","og_description":"The nonprofit legal group, Liberty Institute, recently announced that it has submitted a letter of support to the City of Oklahoma City for its decision to lease or purchase a portion of the Putnam City Baptist Church in order to establish a Metropolitan Area Projects 3 senior wellness center. The City had been threatened for its decision by the ACLU, but Liberty Institute attorneys reviewed the subject and concluded that the City’s plans comply with constitutional standards.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/","og_site_name":"Commercial Property Executive","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive","article_published_time":"2013-08-08T16:27:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-04T01:11:10+00:00","author":"Gabriel Circiog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cpexecutive","twitter_site":"@cpexecutive","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/"},"author":{"name":"Gabriel Circiog","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/dc807179924e7fea3aeab259237f45a5"},"headline":"Conservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center","datePublished":"2013-08-08T16:27:37+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-04T01:11:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/"},"wordCount":299,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["National"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/","name":"Conservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center - Commercial Property Executive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-08-08T16:27:37+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-04T01:11:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/dc807179924e7fea3aeab259237f45a5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/conservative-group-challenges-aclu-over-citys-plan-to-use-church-for-senior-center\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Conservative Group Challenges ACLU Over City\u2019s Plan to Use Church for Senior Center"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/","name":"Commercial Property Executive","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/dc807179924e7fea3aeab259237f45a5","name":"Gabriel Circiog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ef95d778eb3faf572b606f8833d578447ec31abbcf305efdfef40d94aefcacc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ef95d778eb3faf572b606f8833d578447ec31abbcf305efdfef40d94aefcacc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ef95d778eb3faf572b606f8833d578447ec31abbcf305efdfef40d94aefcacc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gabriel Circiog"},"url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/gabriel\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004081548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/264"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004081548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004081548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1004625873,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004081548\/revisions\/1004625873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004081548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004081548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004081548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}