State v. Cameron

This zoning case presents the issue of whether a minister’s home, used each Sunday by his congregation for formal, liturgical services, is a “church” within the meaning of the Franklin Township Zoning Ordinance (Ordinance). I would hold that a home is a church when it is used as the regular site for the traditional services of an organized, recognized religious body, which services are presided over by the ordained minister of that body. When all these elements are present, the use is within the Ordinance’s commonly-accepted meaning of “church and similar places of worship.” Because all of…