A six-year Dallas food fight is finally over, thanks to a ruling from a Texas federal district court judge late last week.
Judge Jorge Solis ruled that Dallas’ Food Establishment Ordinance, which the city used to restrict homeless feedings by two religious ministries, violates the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The city argued that the homeless feedings by Rip Parker Memorial Homeless Ministry and Big Heart Ministries contradicted the city’s goal to get homeless men and women off the streets and into shelters. The ministries said that the law “violated their biblical duty to feed and comfort the hungry while spreading the gospel.”
Solis, who had previously denied an attempt to throw out the case in 2011, sided with the ministries this time around. “The homeless feeders are religiously motivated institutions that are afforded statutory protection to practice their religions without being substantially burdened by government regulation,” Solis stated.
CT has reported on a recent wave of restrictions on feeding the homeless in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Seattle, as well as debate over whether this form of homeless ministry is helpful or hurtful.
