The Department of Justice Tuesday joined a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by a South Carolina Baptist church opposing its hometown’s ban on religious groups holding services in its civic center.
The Justice Department said it supports the Redeemer Fellowship of Edisto Island, which in August filed a lawsuit against Edisto Beach, South Carolina over the ban.
Edisto Beach adopted the ban earlier this year because it was afraid that allowing Redeemer Fellowship to rent space in the civic center violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which imposes the separation of church and state.
But the Justice Department said such a ban runs counter to the Establishment Clause.
“Indeed the town’s reading of the First Amendment is exactly backwards: the town seeks to permit the content and viewpoint discrimination against religious worship that Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses prohibit and to prohibit equal access for religious expression that the Establishment Clause permits,” the Justice Department lawyers wrote.
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This town is got it all wrong. As long as it rents the space for use to all people of all religions then there is no problem.
ReplyDeleteThe intent of the establishment clause was to ensure that the government didn't violate a citizens liberty. So, if the town was using the hall for a government public meeting, and was having a Christian only invocation as the opener, then they would be in violation of the establishment clause.
Renting the hall for use by Christians would not be forcing a viewpoint on anyone nor would it be excluding anyone.. there for not a problem as long as any and all other religious groups had the same access.
The town has an attorney that gave this advice to its leadership?
ReplyDelete10:36 The answer is NO!!!! The lawyer probably did not give that advice, it is just a tactic they use to cover their asses... Like how cops say "in this day and age" bull crap...
ReplyDeleteIf the lawyer didn't give advice, the town fathers were too stupid to ask for it. They walked into an expensive and embarrassing lawsuit.
ReplyDelete