OLYMPIA, Wash. - Open Door Baptist Church has lost the latest, and apparently final, battle in a lengthly legal entanglement over Clark County's insistence that the church obtain a $5,500 conditional use permit. The Washington State Supreme Court, in a 7-2 vote March 16, upheld the county requirement, saying it does not infringe on church members' constitutional right to freedom of religion.

Despite the unfavorable ruling, Tim Shanks, pastor of the Battle Ground church, sees the faithfulness of God.

"The county has made it impossible for us to remain as a church on the property here," he said, "but God's been blessing through the whole thing and we're already to the point that we're looking for another place because we've outgrown this building.

"Of course we know God's timing is impeccable," he added. "Even though the devil has won a victory in the battle, we know he can't win the war. As Christians and as soliders for the Lord our main goal is to win souls for the Lord. Even if we have to go to a different building on different property, that doesn't stop the army from going forward. We're just going to win souls. That's the score that's tallied at the end, not who won in the courts."

The Supreme Court's ruling upheld the prior decision of the state Court of Appeals, which had reversed a Clark County Superior Court judge's initial ruling.

"I'm surprised," said Donald Esau, the attorney representing the church. "I thought the way the argument went it would be 7-2 in the church's favor, but obviously the Supreme Court ruled the other way. I thought that the dissent made a lot of good points, but you know the Supreme Court is the law of the land at this point and we'll just have to live with it."

Shanks said the church looked into the possiblity of appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, attorneys with The Rutherford Institute, who have provided assistance in the case,advised the church that an appeal would be pointless because the high court would not hear a case that was clearly a state's rights issue.

Open Door's extended legal battle stems from complaints by neighbors in 1994 over traffic, erosion caused by runoff from the church parking lot and other issues.

In the process of investigating complaints against the church, the county discovered that Open Door had never applied for a conditional use permit. Although the building Open Door is using had been occupied by churches for decades, the county ruled a conditional use permit was still required because the building had been an art studio when the county code was changed.

Esau argued that the county requirement and its accompanying plans, which included changes in landscaping, traffic flow and storm water drainage systems, as well as a mandated limit on church hours, was an unfair burden on the church.

The Supreme Court, however, agreed with Christopher Horne, a deputy county prosecutor, who pointed out that every other new church has been required to obtain a conditional use permit.

"The county argued the same position all the way through, so the Supreme Court decided to adopt the county's position," said Esau. "Legally they went with the Supreme Court case Employment Security vs State of Oregon, which held that as long as you treat everybody the same it doesn't matter if you're fundamentally right, as long as you treat everybody the same it's OK to do that."

In its decision, the court noted that the church could apply for a waiver if it could not afford the $5,500 in fees.

"The thing we have to keep in mind most of all is not what the county has done and not what the state has done, but our position in the battle," said Shanks. "We follow the Word of God. We don't follow the world and this is a spiritual battle.

"The people are actually pretty excited about the way things are going to go from here on," he added. "Nobody has quit the church because of the issue and in fact next week I've been told there are a couple of new families that are looking to come and join the church. In the midst of adversity the Lord still blesses."