Sex Club Becomes Church to Sidestep Zoning Laws

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Nashville swingers club has undergone a conversion — it says it’s now a church — in order to win city approval so it can open next to a Christian school.

The story began last fall, when a fixture in downtown Nashville called The Social Club sold its building and purchased a new one in a run-down office park several miles to the east.

The new building is geographically isolated at the end of a dead-end street, but it is near the back of Goodpasture Christian School, a large private school serving pre-school through high school children.

It might have been years before school officials and parents learned what was going on inside The Social Club — its website says it is “a private club for the enjoyment of both men and women … to engage in any sexual activity” — if someone had not sent anonymous letters to the school president and the local councilwoman. Both say the person who tipped them off claimed to be a concerned club member, although they don’t know that for sure.

Parents and religious leaders were called on to pack the Metro Nashville Council chambers to support a zoning change to prevent the club from opening. That’s when the club, which had spent $750,000 on the building and begun renovations, suddenly transformed into a church.

The United Fellowship Center’s plans are nearly identical to those of The Social Club but with some different labels. The dance floor has become the sanctuary. Two rooms labeled “dungeon” are now “choir” and “handbells.” Forty-nine small, private rooms remain, but most of them have become prayer rooms.

Larry Roberts is the attorney for the club-turned-church. He previously vowed to take the city to court. Now, he says, it’s the city that will have to sue.

“The ball is in Metro’s court … We’ve now gotten a permit to meet as a church, and a church is something that cannot be defined under the U.S. Constitution,” he said.

It’s time we did start to define religion and church – not by belief, but rather by what they do for (or to) society. Defining true religions for First Amendment purposes could be easily done in neutral language and religions and religious sects could be subject to a simple test.

1. Is love, the progressive experience of God, encouraged?
2. Are the fruits of the spirit, (truthfulness, joy, peace, loyalty, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance) encouraged?
3. Is loving service to humanity, without prejudice, encouraged?
4. Are hatred, selfishness, intolerance, intemperance, deceit and violence discouraged?
5. Is violent coercion employed?

U.S. Courts would not be required to prove or disprove the validity of any set of religious beliefs [see U.S. v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78 (1943)] but it can set standards on what true religion should do for mankind and judge the fitness of different religions to come under the protection of the First Amendment.

I don’t think the sex club could possibly pass and remain a sex club. I doubt their ruse will work in any case.