On February 5, 2015, the American Bar Association’s State & Local Government Law Section sponsored the program “Religious Land Use Litigation Since 2000,” held in Houston, Texas. I participated in the program, along with Daniel Dalton of Dalton & Tomich, Dean Patricia Salkin of Touro Law School, and Noel Sterett of Mauck & Baker. The panelists discussed the state of religious land use litigation under RLUIPA since its enactment in 2000 and the different approaches the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal have developed to analyze claims brought under the statute. The panelists also offered advice to both religious applicants and local governments bringing and defending against such claims, including what it takes to constitute a “substantial burden” under the statute, examples of “comparators” under the equal terms provision, the statute’s “safe harbor” provision, planning for religious use, educating local officials, and how the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Holt v. Hobbs may affect the religious land use litigation landscape. A copy of the presentation PowerPoint is available here. Houston is the largest city in the U.S. without any zoning ordinances. Time in the city made me consider, is lack of a zoning code another way local governments could avoid RLUIPA claims? Following Houston’s approach may be another – albeit extreme – example of a potential RLUIPA-avoidance technique.