Maui County officials say church members did not break the law when they held services under a tent Sunday on their Upcountry farmland, but they do need to seek government approval before making it a weekly worship event. Maui church needs
county OK for
more servicesOfficials want notice ahead of time
in case permits are neededBy Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.comThe question is whether the Hale O Kaula congregation may use an existing house or a 1,700-square-foot agricultural building as a chapel, said Deputy Corporation Counsels Victoria Takayesu and Madelyn D'Enbeau in a letter yesterday to the church attorneys.
The church should inform the county of "the dimensions of the activity" if further religious services are planned, the lawyers wrote. Review by county and state planning and legal officials is required to determine if the activity is allowed in agricultural zoning or would require a special use permit.
They wrote attorney Roman Storzer that the issue is not whether church members can pray on the property, as it has been characterized by some church members and Storzer's law firm, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C.
"It is not the County of Maui's position that state law 'prohibits all religious worship,'" Takayesu wrote. "Outdoor recreation and farming are definitely permitted activities which can, and presumably often do, include prayer." The church's Joseph Ministry, which involves teaching children biblical farming practices, "is unfettered by state law," she said. "There is no restriction on prayer or religious instruction as a part of these permitted activities."
Becket Fund spokesman Patrick Korten responded: "That's progress. This is the first communication we had from the county that concedes the permissibility of prayer and worship at the property, at least under some circumstances. They clearly recognize that at least occasional religious services are permissible, and prayer under a variety of settings is not a violation of law."
About 40 members of the church met at the Anuhea Place site in Pukalani for the Sunday service. Korten said it was planned to force the county's hand, after it failed to respond to the church attorneys' Aug. 29 letter asking a specific description of what is forbidden activity at the site.
Maui planning officials have twice refused Hale O Kaula's request for a special use permit to build a chapel at the 5.8-acre site.
The Becket Fund, which represents churches around the nation on constitutional issues, invoked the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 in an application for an injunction against the county.
U.S. District Judge Samuel King found, after a July hearing, that the county proceedings focused on "facility expansion and their impacts," and told the church it was premature in seeking court intervention. He told the parties to "clarify what exactly is being prohibited" before returning to federal court.
Among many motions filed in the case, Maui county attorneys sought to have the Becket Fund lawyers disqualified, in part because of publicity generated by the firm in news releases and on its Web site. U.S. Magistrate Kevin S.C. Chang denied the motion Friday.
County of Maui
