austin sikh group told to move new temple

Some news of controversy out of Austin over a Sikh group that is being told they must move or tear down their recently opened temple after a court of appeals reversed a trial court's decision that allowed the group to build the temple on its property: Sikh group told to move new temple.

Austin Gurdwara Sahib, a Sikh religious group, bought a lot in the Bee Caves West subdivision off Hamilton Pool Road in 2003, moved a mobile home onto the lot and started to hold services that attracted 20 to 25 people.

But the "mobile home temple" became the source of a court battle between the Sikhs and their neighbors, Leslie and John Bollier, who purchased a lot in the same subdivision in 2007 and filed a lawsuit the following year claiming that the subdivision's deed restrictions didn't permit a religious temple.

A trial court sided with the Sikhs and allowed them to build a new temple, which at more than 3,800 square feet is the largest building in the subdivision. Last week, the 3rd Court overturned the trial court decision and ordered that the temple be removed. The deed restrictions say that only single-family dwellings with garages can be built on the lots, and the new temple lacks bedroom space and has separate men's and women's bathrooms, according to the appeals court opinion.

Funny, since the court's opinion appears to move against a general trend by the Texas Supreme Court to side with religious groups in its rulings. Oh, wait. Does that greater legal protection not apply to Sikh groups? Come on, Texas.