The fate of radio station KASK is now in the hands of a Federal judge, who heard arguments in May whether Solano County must permit the station to operate on the premises of the Vacaville Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The church intends to house the radio ministry in an existing caretaker facility, but the county has denied permission. In court, the county contended that the station is for commercial use, and that it has a compelling interest in preventing such commercial uses in a rural residential zone, even though a variety of commercial uses are already permitted under the county zoning scheme.

Solano County also argued that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) is unconstitutional. Because it is a federal statute, the United States Justice Department filed a brief with the court defending the law’s constitutionality. The Seventh-day Adventist Church State Council joined a separate friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the leading organization handling religious land use cases.

San Francisco attorney Fred Blum, representing the Vacaville Church, insisted that the radio station is an integral part of the soul-winning ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and is entitled to First Amendment protections. He called the county’s position a “lack of political will” defense. Instead of making land use decisions on a case-by-case basis, the county pretends that if it says yes to the radio ministry, it must also say yes to other “commercial” uses.

The judge promised a decision within a matter of weeks. Please pray that the court will open the door for the gospel to be preached on the airwaves in this crucial corridor between the Bay area and the state capitol.