First Our Homes, Now Our Churches

The Anchoress has this deeply disturbing account of how a tax-hungry town in Oklahoma has taken the Kelo decision to new depths.

Since the Supreme Court’s controversial Kelo decision last summer, eminent domain has entered a new frontier. It’s not just grandma’s house we have to worry about. Now it’s God’s house, too. “I guess saving souls isn’t as important,” says Reverend Gildon, his voice wry, “as raking in money for politicians to spend.” The town of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, has plans to take Centennial Baptist — along with two other churches, several businesses, dozens of small homes, and a school — and replace them with a new “super center,” rumored to include a Home Depot. It’s the kind of stuff that makes tax collectors salivate. It’s also the kind of project that brakes for no one, especially post-Kelo. “I had no idea this could happen in America,” says Reverend Gildon, after spending Monday morning marching in the Sand Springs Martin Luther King Day parade.

This is today's America--a country with a judiciary-gone-mad that empowers people who think that the benefits offered by local churches don't measure up to the tax benefits of mini-malls.

I know it's not the height of political correctness to talk about God as if He actually cares about stuff like this, but I would be very afraid to live in Sand Springs if this plan is actually implemented.

PS. Don't forget, it was the liberals on the Supreme Court who voted to allow garbage like this.