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Court Orders Cemetery Title Transferred To Allow O'Hare Airport Expansion

By Howard M. Friedman

Yesterday's Chicago Tribune reports that an Illinois court has cleared the way for expansion of Chicago's O'Hare Airport by ordering the transfer of title of the 5.3-acre St. Johannes Cemetery from St. John's United Church of Christ to the city for $630,000. This follows a ruling last December that the city could use eminent domain to acquire the land. In previous litigation, church members were unsuccessful in arguing that moving the graves would illegally impose a substantial burden on their religious exercise because of their religious belief in the physical resurrection of the bodies of Christian believers. The city will work with next of kin to have the graves moved by spring of 2011. The court ordered no graves to be moved for at least 20 days to give church attorneys a chance to appeal yesterday's decision.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on February 09, 2010 (boomark / email).