Is It Illegal to Pray in Downtown Salem, Oregon?

Thank you for taking a few moments to read this update. In this letter, I will cover some of the information that we have not shared before, regarding our situation with our building and the city. Until now, we have kept the events of the last six months somewhat quiet because we didn’t want to stir up unnecessary strife in the city we love. However, things have changed and we now believe that we need to let the rest of the Body of Christ know what we are going through so you can help us pray. I hope this letter will help you feel the Lord’s heart in this matter. Your prayers are precious to us. This letter will be a bit long, but I will be very grateful if you stick it out.

In May of 2007, we secured a building in the downtown core of Salem. After a great deal of searching we found a building that fit our budget, and had the room we needed to grow and expand. At the advice of some ministry associates, we acquired the help of an attorney, who paid a visit to the city hall. Upon doing so, he described to them that we were a prayer ministry open to the entire church of Salem, that we would have a small new and used Christian bookstore, and hopefully very soon, a coffee shop as well.

We were told by a city worker that we were approved and felt we had done all that we were supposed to do. So with joy we began with 30 consecutive days of prayer for the city. Those first 30 days were glorious. We did not anticipate the kind of response that we received. People from all over the city began to come to pray. Pastors and small groups, business people from the downtown area, students from nearby Willamette University, and a host of others all came to sit, read, pray, and just enjoy the atmosphere. We set up our humble bookstore immediately. We were planning to start the coffee shop as soon as we could gather the rest of the resources we needed.

After about three months we were visited by a city zoning compliance officer. They came and looked around and had some concerns. At first, we were told there might be some problems with safety issues. We were asked to keep our occupancy down to about 49 people, until further notice would be given. We did not think this would be a problem as most of our visitors were drifting in and out in small groups throughout the day. We posted a handwritten sign as we were asked, and continued on. Shortly after that we received a visit from the Fire Marshal, who gave us a list of things we needed to do to bring the building up to compliance in fire safety. We checked off each thing on the list within a few days and when the fire marshal returned, we were handed a report card with straight “A’s” on all the items.

We were so relieved. Shortly after that, we received an official occupancy of around 150 people, which we took to mean that we were cleared for that occupancy level and promptly hung that on the wall replacing the handwritten one. We have since come to find out that the city and the Fire Marshal can have different standards for occupancy. Who knew? Our prayer room was quite a bit larger than the city had expected. It seated 150 people and I think the impression the city had was a small quiet room somewhere off the side of the coffee shop that held a few people…like a hospital chapel…where people just came to gather their thoughts. City officials likely felt that we attempted to misrepresent ourselves in order to get into a restricted building (that we had no idea was restricted), without being noticed. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We went out of our way to do things honestly and uprightly to the best of our knowledge. We did not intend to represent ourselves primarily as a bookstore that had a prayer room, because we want to be a prayer room that has a bookstore. At any rate, shortly after that, we were given a notice to vacate the premises and to cease all activity within the space of 45 days or less. With heavy and confused hearts, we decided to comply.

During the 45-day period, we made several contacts with the city to try to work out the situation. Different representatives came and looked at the building, to see what could be done. It emerged over the course of our conversations with them that there were really two issues involved in the use of the building. The first was one of safety. The building was old and needed certain things to bring it up to code, but no one seemed to know exactly what those things were and by the city’s own admission it was complicated. The city advised us to bring in an architect who was familiar with codes. We were willing to do whatever it took to comply and stay in the building. So finally, one of the officials while standing in the basement of the building said, “we will work with you,” but then he told us that even if we were able to comply with all the safety requirements, that there was still the issue of “the religious ordinance.”

The second issue was a complete surprise to us. Apparently there is a code, still enforced in the city, that prohibits the use of buildings for religious use in the downtown commercial business zone of the city. We were shocked to say the least. We could hardly believe that such a code ever existed, much less that it was still in force today. So we were stuck. There is no way that we could rally support and raise the finances needed to get the building up to code, while having no assurance that we could stay after making all the needed improvements. We could conceivably put thousand of dollars into the project, only to be evicted because of “the religious ordinance.”
During these visits and discussions, we were inching towards the 45-day deadline. We had hoped that, in the spirit of cooperation, the city would grant us an extension of time in order to reach an amiable resolution. But when the allotted time was finished, we received no extension. So we packed up as much as we could, stored the rest, and moved into an upstairs prayer room, located in the facilities of our good friends at Life Church.

After a few months, we decided to contest our right to be in the building downtown for administrative purposes only. Since the building was Commercial Business zoned, we felt we had the right to be there at least for business purposes. It is common today for churches to maintain their sanctuary at a local school gymnasium, while having their offices elsewhere within the city, including in the downtown area. So we contacted the city yet again, and they agreed that we could be there, but for administrative purposes only. No worship activities would be allowed on the premises. They offered to have it put in writing and we said yes. The document states specifically that we can meet for administrative purposes as long as we did not conduct any “worship activities.”

So here we are. We can come downtown…shuffle paper, and do what we will but for all intents and purposes we are not permitted to sing (which is worship) or to pray (which is worship) or who knows what else. So the question is: “Is it illegal to pray in downtown Salem, Oregon?” Apparently under some conditions it is. If it were just a matter of safety, that would be one thing. We want to emphasize as we have from the beginning, that safety is as important to us as it is to anyone. But why cannot the church operate in the downtown area as long as it meets basic safety requirements? It is our constitutional right to assemble and worship. Our Fathers paid with their lives for that right.

Besides freedom of worship that is guaranteed in the First Amendment, there is actually a federal law that was passed in 2000, called the “Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act,” that protects religious groups from discrimination in zoning and city planning, and also protects the religious freedom of people in public institutions. The section pertaining to our situation prohibits “discrimination and exclusion” against religious groups in land use:

(1) EQUAL TERMS- No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that treats a religious assembly or institution on less than equal terms with a nonreligious assembly or institution.

(2) NONDISCRIMINATION- No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation that discriminates against any assembly or institution on the basis of religion or religious denomination.

(3) EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITS- No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation that—

(A) totally excludes religious assemblies from a jurisdiction; or
(B) unreasonably limits religious assemblies, institutions, or structures within a jurisdiction.

Now compare that to the City of Salem ordinance section that has been used to keep religious organizations out of the downtown area:

119.500. RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
(d) In the CB zone, religious organization use and development shall meet the following:

(1) The building used by a religious organization is a designated historic structure which contains a theater that has retained its historic configuration as of November 26, 2001…

There is more, but the point is, in order for a religious organization to be downtown in the CB zone, they must meet in an historic building that also contains a theater. As far as we know, there are only two buildings that meet these criteria in the downtown area.

The problem that we have with this (besides that it is unconstitutional) is that we are a 24-hour ministry and neither of these buildings can possibly work for us. So if we desire to be in the downtown core….well, we just can’t. And we wonder how many others are also barred? We don’t even know for sure how many other ministries have been closed down by this ordinance. We can move to another location to operate, but as they say in business, there are three things that matter: location, location, location.

We are a ministry to the church of all Salem at large. We have found that the best place draw different people together is the central location of the downtown area. There is simply no place else that speaks to the purpose of unity as well as downtown. Over the previous five years of this ministry, we have been all over the city and this has proven to be dramatically true. It hinders this particular ministry to be prohibited from meeting in the heart of the city.

That brings me to one final issue that I need to share. We are about to be forced to leave the building that we have fought for because of lack of funds. Whenever we bring up finances (which we rarely do), some people get offended. On the other hand, if we said nothing about our situation, and were forced to leave, we would be soundly chided by some of you for not sharing our needs openly. So we felt it the better part of valor to let this letter bare all. We simply need your help and support at this time.

Our generous landlords originally agreed to let us start out with a very low rent and work our way up to the full asking price. We did not want to immediately abandon the stake that we have fought so hard for downtown, and have continued believing that we would re-open our prayer room in that same building, as soon as the ordinance was overturned. Mercifully our Landlords cut our rent again, immediately after we had to close the prayer room. But now that time of reduced rent has expired.

In addition to this, the utilities in the building recently went up when the old gas meters had to be replaced. So the bottom line is that will need to pay about $3000 a month in order to stay here. We believe we need to stay in this building. Our Landlords have been very patient, but can no longer afford to lose money. We decided to stand in faith until we were absolutely forced to leave, which will happen at the end of the month…in a few days…if the finances do not come in. We are still believing for them.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Let me make something abundantly clear…we love this city. We love its leaders and feel an intense call to serve them. Every day we pray for the welfare of their families, and the wisdom for them to serve well. We will continue to pray for our leaders regardless of their decision, but we do believe that the time has come to face this issue of religious freedom, not fearing change but embracing growth.

Thanks for faithfully praying for us.

Jim Moore
Director, Salem House of Prayer
salemhouseofprayer@yahoo.com