President Bill Clinton signed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) into law on September 22, bringing into force what some civil rights advocates have called a vital piece of religious freedom legislation.  The law, which strengthens legal protection for the religious civil rights of prisoners and other institutionalized people, is also expected, in some instances, to aid churches whose building plans have been hampered by local land use regulations.

The lobbying effort for the bill was spearheaded by the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion, a group made up of representatives from more than 70 religious and civil rights organizations.  Dr. Clarence Hodges, public affairs and religious liberty director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, gave testimony at a Congressional hearing in support of the bill earlier this year. Adventist attorney Nicholas Miller, executive director of Council on Religious Freedom, helped draft the legislation and was invited to Friday’s White House ceremony.