Word: churchful
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North Carolina is a proud member of the so-called Bible Belt of states that take their religion seriously. So some eyebrows were raised when James Nichols was arrested for attending church...
...offense? Nichols, a convicted sex offender, had chosen to worship at a church that has a nursery where kids play while their parents pray. Now Nichols, 31, who only recently got out of prison, is fighting back, challenging the legality of a new law that took effect in December prohibiting registered sex offenders from coming within 300 ft. - nearly a football field's length - of any facility devoted to the use, care or supervision of minors. (See pictures of John 3:16 in pop culture...
...This law makes it illegal to do things that are not wrong, like go to church," says Glen Gerding, Nichols' attorney. "When does the state stop interfering with a church's business? Will pastors be charged as an accessory for letting a known sex offender sit in a front-row pew and worship...
Most states restrict sex offenders' movements in some way; North Carolina's law is hardly the strictest. In Georgia, registered sex offenders can't live or work within 1,000 ft. of places including schools, churches and child-care centers. Courts there have waded into questions of religion, ruling in favor of the right of offenders to partake in activities including volunteering in a church kitchen, attending adult Sunday School and singing in a church choir. (See pictures of a drive-in church...
...behalf of Georgia's 16,000 registered sex offenders, the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights has sued the state over its residency and employment restrictions, including the ban on faith-based volunteering. "There are serious constitutional problems in banning someone from going to church, not to mention this runs counter to the church's mission of inclusion, hospitality and redemption," says Sara Totonchi, the center's associate director...