Couple Sues Over Prayer Meetings

DENVER — A Colorado couple sued the city of Denver this week, seeking to overturn a zoning order that limited Christian prayer meetings in their home to one a month.

Diane and David Reiter claim in a U.S. District Court lawsuit that the order violates their constitutional rights to assemble and to exercise their religious faith.

Denver Zoning Administrator Kent Strapko cast the dispute in a different light. “The situation to me is not the [type of] activity, but where it’s taking place and the frequency,” he said.

“It’s any activity that has the potential for being disruptive” to neighbors, traffic and parking, he said.

The dispute is one of several that have cropped up around the country pitting religious groups against local officials concerned with traffic and other disturbances.