151 following a lawsuit filed by three churches damaged in hurricane harvey last year fema has reversed a policy that prevented houses of worship from accessing disaster relief funds according to a guidance document published by the agency today the disputed policy allowed community centers and other nonprofits to receive fema emergency funds for certain repairs of stormdamaged facilities but specifically excluded houses of worship like churches synagogues and mosques used primarily for religious activities such as worship proselytizing or religious instruction under the new policy private nonprofit houses of worship are now eligible for disaster assistance as community centers without regard to their secular or religious nature fema said the policy applies is retroactive effective for disasters declared on or after aug 23 2017 according to the agency the suit filed by becket a law firm that represented hobby lobby the supreme court case that struck down the affordable care acts contraception coverage provision argued that femas policy constituted discrimination and thus violated the first amendments free exercise clause pastor charles stoker who said his sanctuary at hiway tabernacle was nearly destroyed by more than 30 inches of floodwater after harvey told abc news in december before the new policy was unveiled that fema was being unfair the hiway tabernacle church in cleveland texas was severely damaged by hurricane harvey courtesy becket law even as water continued to seep into the sanctuary hiway sheltered 80 to 90 evacuees who holed up in sunday school classrooms stoker said many werent members of the congregation or even particularly religious he said were not trying to cram religion down someones throat were trying to help them recover to show them love stoker said though about a dozen evacuees remained in the church for months most victims began to find other places to stay in the weeks following the deluge and the church began to focus on more practical matters like tearing out damaged sheetrock and replacing molding insulation we need to get back on our feet and were unable to without femas help stoker told abc news in december churches are hubs for the community which is still recovering from the hurricane stokers attorney daniel blomberg told abc denying help to them to these churches denies help to the community by finally following the constitution fema is getting rid of secondclass status for churches bloomberg said in a statement today we will watch carefully to make sure that femas new policy is implemented becket law told abc news its not clear how the new policy will affect the lawsuit which is currently on appeal