Hurricane-damaged houses of worship can receive FEMA aid
The disaster relief agency cited the Supreme Court's Trinity Lutheran decision in changing its policy.
Pastor Charles Stoker at Hi-Way Tabernacle Assembly of God Church north of Houston after Hurricane Harvey. Photo courtesy of Becket Law Firm.
After lawsuits and a Supreme Court decision, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has issued a new policy extending disaster relief to churches, synagogues, and other congregations.
FEMA said it made the change so houses of worship aren’t considered ineligible “on the basis of the religious character or primarily religious use of the facility.”
It cites the June 2017 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer, in which the high court ruled 7–2 in favor of a Missouri church that claimed religious discrimination after it was refused state funds to improve its playground.
