By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services/Arizona Capitol Times
A fight between a couple wanting to build a chapel and Pima County is forcing a federal appeals court to consider who gets to decide what exactly is a church.
Attorney Robert Kerry asked the judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday to rule that county zoning officials improperly denied the necessary permits for Mesquite Grove Chapel to build a church in the Tanque Verde Valley. He said the denial violated federal laws designed to keep governments from imposing land use regulations that substantially burden the free exercise of religion.