First Parish in Bedford, Unitarian Universalist v. Historic District Commission of Town of Bedford

The First Parish in Bedford, Unitarian Universalist, along with its senior minister and three members, brought a lawsuit challenging the Town of Bedford Historic District Commission's denial of the Parish's application to install solar panels on the roof of its meetinghouse. The plaintiffs asserted that the denial was "arbitrary, unreasonable, whimsical, capricious, legally untenable, and exceeds of the authority" of the Commission. The plaintiffs also asserted that the denial violated their right to free exercise of religion under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article II of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. In connection with this aspect of their case, the plaintiffs alleged that the Seventh Principle of the Unitarian Universalist faith was "respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part," adherence to which the plaintiffs alleged "necessarily has involved confronting and mitigating evolving environmental threats," including climate change.