CHEVIOT, OH (WLWT/CNN) – A restaurant owner in Ohio is facing legal questions after offering a discount to churchgoers.
"This was the furthest thing from my mind when we came up with this idea," said Justin Watson, the owner of Starters Cafe in Cheviot, OH.
Watson opened the restaurant about seven weeks ago.
He said all he was trying to do was stir up some business with his discount offer to churches. Instead, he stirred up a hornet's nest.
"Any congregation, any religion, any area, whatever, as long as you brought me a church bulletin, I would give you 10 percent off your meal for the day," Watson said. "It seemed pretty simple, and here we are."
Watson said he got angry comments from some saying he was discriminating against non-religious people.
Someone also passed along a form letter from the nonprofit Freedom from Religion Foundation, telling people to alert the owner to the illegality of the practice.
Jim Helton with American Atheists said legality is not always clear-cut in such cases, but he said Watson's actions appear illegal.
"In this case, it was illegal because it was only offering to churches," said Helton, adding that the discount is different from a senior citizen discount or a military discount because religion or lack of religion are considered protected classes.
But there's not a consensus on the issue.
Attorney Jason Phillabaum said he doesn't see anything wrong with giving a discount to churchgoers.
"The law prohibits discrimination. And in this particular case, he's not denying service. He's offering a discount if someone does something specific like bring in a church bulletin," Phillabaum said.
To be on the safe side, and to make his offer to even more people, Watson has changed his discount policy.
"In response, we just removed the 10 percent offer and sent a letter of apology and tried to clear the board. So now we're just offering, on Sunday, noon to four, 10 percent for everybody," Watson said.
It's a deal he thinks will be more universally palatable.
Copyright 2018 WLWT via CNN. All rights reserved.
