http://www.eveningsun.com/localnews/ci_3484517
Property seizure violates church, state separation
The Evening Sun
By MARK SCOLFORO
Associated Press Writer
HARRISBURG -- A city agency violated the separation of church and state
when it seized a woman's home to help a religious group build a private
school in a blighted Philadelphia neighborhood, a state appeals court ruled
Monday.
In a 4-3 ruling, the Commonwealth Court said the Philadelphia Redevelopment
Authority should not have condemned Mary Smith's property in North
Philadelphia in 2003 so that the Hope Partnership for Education could build
a middle school. The court said the seizure by eminent domain ran afoul of
a clause in the U.S. Constitution that keeps Congress from establishing
religion or preventing its free exercise.
The partnership is a venture started by the Society of the Holy Child Jesus
and the Sisters of Mercy, two Roman Catholic groups. The court ruled the
authority may not take private property, then give it to a religious group
for its private development purposes.
"The evidence shows that the Hope Partnership designated the land that it
wanted and requested the authority to acquire it, and the authority
proceeded to do so," wrote Judge Doris A. Smith-Ribner. "This joint effort
demonstrates the entanglement between church and state."
The Hope Partnership school is in an area where a nearby Roman Catholic
elementary school closed in 1993. It's among a group of similar initiatives
in needy neighborhoods across the country.
Sister Rose Martin, executive director of the project, said 30 fifth- and
sixth-graders are currently enrolled at the Hope Partnership Middle School
in space rented from a community center.
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the US and a couple from overseas as well]
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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