 |
| A man reading the Bible. |
Christian Post Reporter
A Virginia couple who were threatened with eviction from their
retirement home if they continued to hold Bible study meetings has won the
right to hold classes again.
Kenneth and Liv Hauge
recently reached a settlement with the Evergreens at Smith Run in
Fredericksburg, allowing them to continue holding Bible classes and movie
screenings at the community room.
First Liberty
Institute, a conservative law firm that represented the Hauges, announced the settlement on their Twitter
account on Wednesday.
“BREAKING: 2020 just
began and we're celebrating a VICTORY that vindicates the right to worship in
your own home,” they tweeted.
“The FLI Legal team reached
a settlement for Ken and Liv Hauge that allowed their group to gather for their
first Bible study since being banned from meeting in 2018.”
Kenneth Hauge told Fox 5 DC in an interview last
week that he believed it was “just a great relief to have this
behind us and be able to move forward.”
In July 2018, the
Community Realty Company, the parent company for Evergreens, sent a notice to
the Hauges saying they must stop holding their Bible study at the senior living
center’s community room or face eviction.
According to the
notice, the weekly Bible study "caused, and continues to cause, serious
and substantial disturbances with other residents in the community."
"Landlord has
received a series of complaints over the past several months regarding your
conduct at the community," read the notice in part.
"Landlord has
also learned that you show religious films on Sunday evenings, followed by a
group discussion on the religious film. This activity has resulted in
complaints to Landlord similar to those related to the Bible study class."
The landlord said in
the notice that the residential business was not threatening the couple with
eviction because of their Christian beliefs nor was it "requesting that
you cease practicing your religion."
Last May, the couple
filed a lawsuit against Evergreens and CRC, arguing that management had
discriminated against them and others on the basis of religion.
In addition to the ban
on the Bible study, the suit also alleged that the Evergreens was prohibiting
prayer before meals and refusing to allow them to call it a “Bible study,” but
rather a “book review.”
Lea Patterson,
associate counsel for First Liberty, said in a statement to The Christian
Post last year that the “hostility to religious residents
violates federal law and taints Virginia's long history of religious freedom.”
“We're asking the
court to hold the management company accountable for violating the Hauges'
right to exercise their faith in their home and to ensure no other residents
have to suffer through what the Hauges have endured,” Patterson said at the
time.
No comments:
Post a Comment