One Problem with State Religious Privileges

[barking_iguana]

The government shouldn't be deciding what's a real religion, right? That's how non-profits got going, because the tax-exemption had to be made more neutral. But what about special privileges in zoning regulations?

It's about God, America and the bonds of friendship. Or, maybe, it's just about beer.

On one side of the battle: nine best buds at Georgetown University who hung a skull-and-crossbones flag outside their home and a porn star poster inside. On the other: their neighbors, who accuse the students of running a scam to keep their partying friends together.

They live on quiet 35th Street NW, in a stately section of Georgetown, where Brian O'Neill Jr., 20, and his roommates moved in August and promptly held pool parties so loud the university and police were called.

This is where your classic town-gown dispute gets weird. The $2.4 million house that J. Brian O'Neill Sr. bought for his son is allowed only six unrelated residents under zoning laws. But if it's a residence for a "religious community," the number jumps to 15.

The solution? The Apostles of O'Neill. That's the name the young men used Oct. 2 when they filed paperwork to incorporate as a nonprofit religious organization. . . .

There is no definition of "a religious community" in city regulations, said Karyn-Siobhan Robinson, spokeswoman for the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, which interprets and enforces the city's zoning rules.

Comments

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

He bought a $2.4mil house for his son? I hope he loses all of that in repairs and devaluation because of the spoiled, drunken brats he's allowing to live there.

[stormlorde.livejournal.com]

These type of things are cute, and there are many of them, but if the issue is pressed a Judge or a Jury could decide they are scamming and end the game. Its like all the crazy lawsuits that make the paper-an awful lot of them go down in flames. The thumbing your nose at the rules is cute, and the system is slow to react, but it can in fact deal with these things if it chooses.