One South Carolina civic center has hosted all types of events, from blood drives and birthdays to plays and fitness classes. But there’s one type of gathering the town council decided to reject: religious worship services.

According to Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Redeemer Fellowship of Edisto Island in its case against the town of Edisto Beach, the church had hosted two worship services at the civic center before the town council denied its third request and retroactively amended its guidelines to ban rentals for “religious worship services.” Yet, according to the lawsuit, an Episcopal church had been allowed to hold meetings and theological training sessions at the center for five years.

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