Trending
In mid-September the Rieders Foundation filed a brief as amicus curiae in support of petitioner in the case of Daniel Grand v. City of University Heights, Ohio.
According to a news release from the foundation, the case concerned the right of Mr. Grand to hold a minyan, a Jewish prayer group, in his home, notwithstanding objections by zoning authorities. The right to pray, it was argued, is fundamental under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Rieders Foundation argued that in spite of the importance of appropriate zoning discretion, the City failed to provide any substantiation when it applied undefined zoning classification to Grand and proceeded to issue a cease-and desist letter threatening regulatory penalties.
"It is pointed out in the brief that Jews are required to pray three times a day with a minyan of ten," the news release said. "Having a minyan does not suggest that the location of the minyan is or necessarily has to be a synagogue or a house of worship. The institution of the minyan has existed formally and informally for millennia. Minyans were held in the Warsaw Ghetto, in concentration camps and sometimes on street corners and in parks. The amicus curiae pointed out that defying a royal decree prohibiting prayer to anyone other than King Darius is what got Daniel thrown into a den of lions. He continued praying to God three times each day in the upper chamber of his house, as he had always done. Daniel 6:11. For praying in his own home, Daniel was cast into a den of lions."
"The issue today is not far from the problem faced by Daniel," the news release continues. "While Grand was not thrown to the lions or subjected to criminal prosecution, he remained the target of unrelenting efforts by the City of University Heights to employ ambiguous zoning requirements to restrict private prayer at his home."
The Rieders Foundation will continue to fight for the right to adhere to one's religious principles, the news release said.