Members of the Second Baptist Church in Centralia filled the Centralia City Council chambers Monday night to find out why they will no longer be allowed to use the Centralia Community Youth Center for Sunday church services.
The church began using the center on a temporary basis after fire heavily damaged their church last month. Paster Isaak Parker noted the arrangement is only temporary until they can find a new location until the church is rebuilt.
“We are not looking to make the Youth Center the Centralia Youth Center Church of God and Christ. That is not our effort. This is a temporary arrangement and we thank God that arrangement could be made in the timeline that we were given, otherwise we would be shirt tail in the wind so to speak. Unless there is some kind of standard that we are in conflict with, we are just asking to leave us alone.”
City Attorney Andrew Johnson responded that there was no written policy but said the mixture of church and state was a slippery slope.
“Whenever they made the ultimate decision to not permit the church to keep on holding services there routinely it was just out of abundance of caution just to avoid any impropriety. One of the things the city needs to try to avoid is look like they are favoring one religion over the other. Thats strictly I think where the city was coming from. I don’t think it was aimed at anything in particular or poke and prod anyone.”
But an attorney consulted by the church, Jennifer Price, disagrees.
“I don’t think it’s too slippery in this case. We’ve got a situation where we have proven that many organizations are using it in the same way that this church intends to.”
Price says the church can provide proof of insurance and anything else renters are required to provide.
After the meeting, City Manager Kory Smith said he would further consult with members of the city council to see if they want a different resolution to the issue.
