Walking through the canyons of skyscrapers in the heart of Americas largest cities, we occasionally come upon a small church. It is dwarfed by the towering structures that block out the sunshine, but it reminds us that it holds firm to a patch of land that was not snatched up by Corporate America.If youve been to Wall Street, youve probably seen Trinity Church at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street. Your first thought is how did this church miss the wrecking ball and get replaced by brick and steel going 70 stories up? Maybe that neo-gothic structure would be gone without its storied 309-year history as the place where the inaugural services for President George Washington were held in 1789 or where Alexander Hamilton is buried. The Episcopal church has been a physical faith witness in the center of capitalism.
Walking in the great cities of Europe, we have also been surprised by the preponderance of churches large and small just blocks apart and surrounded by old and new development that somehow allowed the churches to stay put. Obviously, we dont know what religious edifices were, in fact, lost to progress or fell too much into decay to remain.
In city after city in America, there was usually church row, many churches concentrated downtown, representing the largest denominations. Each structure was designed by the best architects with flair and class, with stained-glass windows and eye-catching steeples and towers. Downtown Tulsa, Okla., is a good example. There the oil barons of the first part of the last century underwrote the costs for some amazing church architecture that still speaks to what could be done by that generation of church builders. Downtown Phoenix has largely lost its church row. Historic First Presbyterian Church, Tanner AME Church and Immaculate Heart Catholic Church are among the last. Most congregations of another era sold off their downtown sites to follow the outward migration of members and usually fetched a good price to erect new campuses elsewhere.
Sometimes churches stand in the way of progress. Commercial and public developments want their spots and seek to use their considerable economic, legal and influential might to gain the land, even if it takes special incentives. Americans have grown more hostile to cities teaming with private business to use eminent domain provisions to push out existing owners and users of prime spots. So I was heartened Wednesday by the Ohio Supreme Court ruling that favored houses of worship. The unanimous ruling said that cities may not use eminent domain powers to take private property if the only purpose is economic development. Judges used some fairly religious language in the City of Norwood v. Horney case. Property rights were believed to be derived fundamentally from a higher authority and a natural law and are so sacred that they could not be entrusted lightly to the ‘uncertain virtue of those who govern.
The churchs situation was part of a bigger Norwood, Ohio, issue involving the real estate empire of Jeffrey Anderson with a half-billion dollar plan who wants to remake a large part of the city. In an appeal, a church argued that houses of worship and other religious institutions are, by their very nature, non-profit and almost universally tax-exempt. Because of these fundamental characteristics, cities will always be particularly eager to replace these properties with for-profit, tax-generating businesses. They argued that when government uses eminent domain against houses of worship it inevitably treads on that religious institutions autonomy and expression. Whats more, if government can control where a religious institution may locate, the government inevitably comes to control the kind of mission a religious institution may pursue.
Among numerous examples cited were the forced sale and destruction of two churches in Atlantic City, N.J., to make the property available for the MGM Grand Casino; and two churches taken by eminent domain in New Rochelle, N.Y., to make way for a 309,000-square foot IKEA story.
