Town where only Christians can buy houses

Started by GSOgymrat, February 09, 2018, 09:41:02 AM

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GSOgymrat

I'm aware of communities where residents create barriers for certain people to buy but I wasn't aware there were still places where you can't buy due to your religion or lack thereof. I was also surprised that one of the owners can't leave his house in his will to his wife or children because they are part Jewish.

The Michigan town where only Christians are allowed to buy houses

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/09/christians-only-town-bay-view-michigan

What started out as a modest camping ground for Methodist families 140 years ago has quietly developed into a stunning vacation spot for people who can afford the upkeep of a second home. Streets named Moss, Fern and Maple are dotted with impeccably maintained century-old gingerbread cottages. Over the horizon, residents can watch lifelong friends sail their boats across the water.

But this paradise is not open to all. In Bay View, only practicing Christians are allowed to buy houses, or even inherit them.
Prospective homeowners, according to a bylaw introduced in 1947 and strengthened in 1986, are required to produce evidence of their faith by providing among other things a letter from a Christian minister testifying to their active participation in a church.

Last summer, a dozen current and former resident members filed a federal lawsuit against the town, its ruling Bay View Association and a real estate company, claiming the Christian litmus test was illegal and unconstitutional. Is Bay View a religious community simply seeking to practice its own beliefs, in peace, as it has always desired? Or is it, as the lawsuit claims, a community in clear violation of constitutional, civil and religious rights â€" to say nothing of federal housing rights? ...

SGOS

I don't know if it's illegal or not, but I wouldn't want to live there.  It's probably not legal, but that's a wild guess.  The big problem I see is the community dictating parts of your private life, and I think guaranteed private by law, in such matters as how you can write a will.  You can't give the house to your nephew, or whoever, because he's the wrong religion?  Or not Christian enough?  Not only does that sound egregious, but also subjective.  Maybe they can pull it off, and good luck to them if they do, but it seems like a legal minefield that I wouldn't want any responsibility for.

aitm

and yet on the the hand...if we could erect a fence and keep the bastards in one spot....
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust


Shiranu

#4
If you're that fundamental to want such a community, maybe you and everyone else are better off with you isolating yourself like that.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Baruch

Housing covenants are murky, not even municipal regs sometimes, homeowner association stuff.

In Amish areas or Mormon areas or Hasidic areas, I would think this is common.  They don't want you there, and you probably don't want to be their either.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

trdsf

I suspect the case is going to hinge more on the rights of the individual to dispose of their estate as they wish.  A local ordinance forbidding someone from willing their estate to a non-Caucasian, or forbidding willing it to a gay couple, orâ€"appropriately, hereâ€"forbidding willing it to a Jew wouldn't last five seconds in a court.  The right of free association only goes just so far, and since the entire community doesn't appear to be monolithically one particular sect of Christianity, there is no way to defend it on a church basis.  "Christian" isn't a church, it's an umbrella term covering everything from the most gentle of Quakers to the most demented of snake-handlers, with stops at all points between and beyond.

Judging by that article, even though it's administered under the United Methodist Church, it appears that they do not limit membership to Methodists only.  That right there damages any church-based defense.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

SGOS

Quote from: Baruch on February 09, 2018, 12:51:36 PM
Housing covenants are murky, not even municipal regs sometimes, homeowner association stuff.
They are enforceable regulations, as long as they don't conflict with actual laws.  However, they are enforced through restraining orders paid for by the home owners.  Legally, they can even be brought to court by someone living outside the development.  I actually approve of them, but they do lend themselves to abuse.  This one would be an interesting case to watch.

GSOgymrat

Quote from: SGOS on February 09, 2018, 02:23:59 PM
They are enforceable regulations, as long as they don't conflict with actual laws.  However, they are enforced through restraining orders paid for by the home owners.  Legally, they can even be brought to court by someone living outside the development.  I actually approve of them, but they do lend themselves to abuse.  This one would be an interesting case to watch.

How do senior living communities legally avoid having residents under age 55?

SGOS

In reading the first half of the complaint, I'd be surprised if the community won their case, but then I am often surprised.

SGOS

Quote from: GSOgymrat on February 09, 2018, 02:30:07 PM
How do senior living communities legally avoid having residents under age 55?

I suppose it depends on how they are set up.  I'm only familiar with a couple.  But the ones I know of are all owned by the corporation... Sort of.  You do buy the house or apartment and it becomes yours so to speak, but when you die, it reverts back to the corporation.  You don't get to will it to anyone, even though you <sort of> bought it.  I would never live in one, but I have friends who think the set up is great.  They consider themselves property owners.  I can understand their sense of community and enjoying the various amenities, but the ownership glitch horrifies me.

Blackleaf

Quote from: Shiranu on February 09, 2018, 11:53:29 AM
If you're that fundamental to want such a community, maybe y you and everyone else are better off with you isolating yourself like that.

Bad idea. Mormons have already built their own segregated communities, where they control the local police and government. Human rights are frequently violated, and people are not allowed to leave. The only way they can be dealt with is if they're forced to disperse and actually follow the law.
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

Gawdzilla Sama

Do they have an Imaginary Friend Lease Law? Is there a limit to the number of gods you can worship if you live there? What's the minimum level of sanctimoniousness needed to qualify for a home purchase?
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

fencerider

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on February 10, 2018, 06:08:08 AM
Do they have an Imaginary Friend Lease Law? Is there a limit to the number of gods you can worship if you live there? What's the minimum level of sanctimoniousness needed to qualify for a home purchase?
In otherwords how much ass-kissin do you gotta do if you want to live there?

Quote from: aitm on February 09, 2018, 10:41:58 AM
and yet on the the hand...if we could erect a fence and keep the bastards in one spot....
Don’t forget the one-way gates... everybody goes in but no one comes out
"Do you believe in god?", is not a proper English sentence. Unless you believe that, "Do you believe in apple?", is a proper English sentence.

Gawdzilla Sama

With signs on the gates "Jesus macht frei!"
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers