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Hollywood Houses of God
17 February 2006When is a house of God a by-the-books house of worship? A federal lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against the city of Hollywood once again confirms that real estate is becoming one of the hot-button areas of religion reporting. The Justice Department is suing the city for religious discrimination over the discrepancies between the handling of two separate residential properties being used for religious purposes: the first, a Hollywood Hills house converted into an Orthodox synagogue -- which has been forbidden to hold worship services in accordance with zoning laws -- and the West Hollywood house of Rosa Lopez, which is the site of reported visions of the Virgin Mary, and which attracts at least 100 pilgrims per month to pray for miracles. The alterations to the two separate properties are comparable, argues the Justice Department, so the remaining question is a tricky one for either the feds or the Hollywood zoning board to sort out: what constitutes zoning-regulated "worship"?
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