HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- There's a religious battle brewing in Hollywood where one group says they are being treated unfairly.

Rabbis at one synagogue say they're being unfairly singled out while another house of worship in Hollywood is not -- and now the U.S. Justice Department wants to know if Hollywood is violating a federal law.

For 10 years, ever since Rosa Lopez claimed she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary above her home, people have come to her house with Polaroid cameras, capturing images in the clouds -- insisting they've seen the mother of Jesus.

"It helps strengthen my faith," Jackie Vera said. "It gives me hope."

Visitors leave donations, take daily tours and hear the rosary prayed.

"We're all in search of a belief in something," Vera said.

For six years, Sharon St. Jean, who is paraplegic, has come to Lopez's home all the way from Canada, and she said it gives her great hope.

Lopez said she is glad people come to her home to worship.

"I'm happy to help people. That is my mission," Lopez said.

But those of another faith say their mission is being hurt by the city.

Their house of worship, the Hollywood Community Synagogue on North 46th Avenue, is not far from Lopez's home.

Commissioners refused to exempt that synagogue from a code that forbids churches and synagogues from operating in a residential area.

Arthur Eckstein, synagogue president, said, "We have a community that counts on us and needs us. We have seniors with nowhere else to go."

The synagogue continues to operate, as a court battle is being waged.

Rabbi Zalman Korf, of Hollywood Community Synagogue, said, "It can't be an issue of residence. It's really more an issue of what we can do and the constitution."

The U.S. Justice Department has launched its own investigation to see if Hollywood is violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

Because of a lawsuit, the city will not comment on camera.

Some neighbors have complained this is no place for a synagogue -- but members of the synagogue say there is a double standard and they say they wonder why the city embraces some but not others.

Even some among the faithful at Lopez's house say they agree.

"I don't think they should fight the synagogue," St. Jean said. "They should leave them alone."

Ultimately, the courts will decide what happens.

In at least two other states, other synagogues have won the right to operate in residential areas.

One Hollywood rabbi says the battle has just begun.

"It gives me a call to duty," Korf said. "It's right."

The city is expecting another lawsuit claiming that a double standard is being applied, so officials will not talk about that issue.

A representative of the justice department is expected to come to Hollywood this week to investigate.