Does RLUIPA make it illegal to prohibit churches from a jurisdiction?
Yes. A city, municipality or county cannot prohibit churches from their entire jurisdiction. Thus, the City of San Diego could not pass a law that states: “Churches are prohibited in the City of San Diego.” This would violate the exclusion provision of the RLUIPA law. Please note that reference to “jurisdiction” is the City, County, municipality, etc., and not merely a zone. The exclusion provision is not violated when a jurisdiction exercises its zoning authority to allow some uses but not other uses in certain zones.
