Christian-only Michigan community faces lawsuit

A Michigan town where prospective buyers need a letter from their church minister to purchase a house has become the subject of a US legal battle.

Bay View, a scenic waterfront community on the shores of Lake Michigan, began life in 1875 as a campsite for local Methodists.

In the intervening century and a half, the settlement has developed into an upscale resort town and sought-after location for holiday homes, The Guardian reports.

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The town enjoys an unusual amount of self-governance, MLive reported last year, and the Bay View Association has powers that go far beyond the usual homeowners’ association, including the right to dictate who should - and should not - own houses in the community.

A bylaw prohibiting the sale of homes to non-white residents was lifted in 1959, while a quota on Catholics remained in place until the 1980s.

As of 2018, practising Christians are still the only group allowed to buy or inherit any of Bay View’s 444 cottages.

Prospective buyers are still required to present a letter from a church minister affirming that they are practising Christians before they can join the association, a requirement for owning a property in Bay View and residents cannot bequeath their homes to a non-Christian spouse or child.

Those loyal to the current order argue that the Bay View Association and its land is a private Christian institution, which exempts it from federal laws outlawing religious discrimination.

Last summer, a group of current and former residents filed a lawsuit claiming that the Bay View Association is “in clear violation of constitutional, civil and religious rights,” the Guardian reports.

The lawsuit is ongoing after an attempt at mediation between the two parties fell through in January.

However, Mike Steinberg, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, told the newspaper that the association was “clearly” a governmental organisation and that the case against them was “open and shut”.