Christian-only Michigan community faces lawsuit

Buyers must prove they are practising churchgoers to live in Bay View

bay_view.jpg

A Michigan town where prospective buyers need a letter from their church minister to purchase a house has become the subject of a US legal battle.

Bay View, a scenic waterfront community on the shores of Lake Michigan, began life in 1875 as a campsite for local Methodists.

In the intervening century and a half, the settlement has developed into an upscale resort town and sought-after location for holiday homes, The Guardian reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The town enjoys an unusual amount of self-governance, MLive reported last year, and the Bay View Association has powers that go far beyond the usual homeowners’ association, including the right to dictate who should - and should not - own houses in the community.

A bylaw prohibiting the sale of homes to non-white residents was lifted in 1959, while a quota on Catholics remained in place until the 1980s.

As of 2018, practising Christians are still the only group allowed to buy or inherit any of Bay View’s 444 cottages.

Prospective buyers are still required to present a letter from a church minister affirming that they are practising Christians before they can join the association, a requirement for owning a property in Bay View and residents cannot bequeath their homes to a non-Christian spouse or child.

Those loyal to the current order argue that the Bay View Association and its land is a private Christian institution, which exempts it from federal laws outlawing religious discrimination.

Last summer, a group of current and former residents filed a lawsuit claiming that the Bay View Association is “in clear violation of constitutional, civil and religious rights,” the Guardian reports.

The lawsuit is ongoing after an attempt at mediation between the two parties fell through in January.

However, Mike Steinberg, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, told the newspaper that the association was “clearly” a governmental organisation and that the case against them was “open and shut”.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us