Throughout history, Jewish congregations placed the bimah in the middle of the shul. With the advent of the "Enlightened" movement in Europe of the late 18th century, reformers started to move the bimah to the front of the Shul. This caused much distress to the halachic authorities of the time, and they spoke out and wrote against it.
R. Yehuda Aszod, student of R. Mordechai Benet and Chasam Sofer and prominent possek of Hungarian Jewry after the latter's death, saw this phenomenon and opposed it. Pondering the possible deeper significance of this breach, he explained:
In the Beis Hamikdash, there were two altars: the golden one inside upon which the incense was burned, and the copper one outside upon which all the sacrifices were brought. The inner one was used only once a day and by a select group of people, whereas the outer one was used quite extensively throughout the day by many people.
Today, there is no Beis Hamikdash or altar. The sacrifices of today are the words of Torah we read and learn, and the altar is table upon which the Torah lies - the bimah. These reformers erroneously think that the Torah and its altar are to be relegated to a select few people and to be seldom used - like the inner altar that was situated in the "front" of the Temple. The truth however is that the Torah and its altar are to accessed extensively by all - like the outer altar which was situated in the "middle" of the Temple.
שו"ת יהודה יעלה ח"א או"ח סי' ג
See here
In many cases the poskim allowed there to be the space of one person to separate between the front and the bimah, in order to defrentiate between an orthodox and reform synagogue. See shaary Halacha uminhag vol.1
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