Church And City Battle Over Prime Downtown Land

Can the Church control how people behave on land sold with a public easement? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints clashes with Salt Lake City.

1 minute read

October 31, 2002, 1:00 PM PST

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech

"...the latest round of a dispute over rights to a block of prime downtown land is almost certain to reach the United States Supreme Court in a test of First Amendment rights that also touches on the separation of church and state...Despite ownership of land sold with a public easement, can the church control what people say and how they behave as they walk through?.. In the church's view, permitting full rights to free speech has the potential to desecrate the plaza...a Southern Baptist leader...was arrested in April for trespassing after distributing what he called generic Christian literature..."The church can't distribute brochures on Mormonism and say someone else can't distribute brochures about Southern Baptists."

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan

FULL STORY: Public or Mormon Plaza? Battle Splits Salt Lake City

Wednesday, October 30, 2002 in The New York Times

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