“She can actually, in practice, not rent to a non-Christian. But she can’t make the statement. The statement alone is a violation of the act.”

The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan filed a housing discrimination charge against a Grand Rapids woman who advertised for a Christian roommate on her church bulletin board.

The 31-year-old woman’s attorney, who works for the Alliance Defense Fund, said this is a blatant violation of her First Amendment right to freely associate.

But Nancy Haynes of the Fair Housing Center told 24 Hour News 8 the woman has every right to seek and live with a Christian roommate — but advertising for it publicly, even on a church bulletin board, violates federal law.

“She can be a Christian and she can even use that as a criteria for who she wants to rent to. She just can’t state that. Because to state that is a violation of the Fair Housing Act,” she said. “There are certain exceptions that apply. She can actually, in practice, not rent to a non-Christian. But she can’t make the statement. The statement alone is a violation of the act. What she can do in practice she can’t make a statement about.”

Haynes said the Fair Housing Center began investigating after someone in the congregation, who was offended, filed a complaint.

The center then filed a complaint with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights , and the action is administrative, not criminal..

Read More: http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/michigan/No-Christian-roommate-for-churchgoer [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]