| Topic: |
Sociology > Education |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
02 Oct 2007 05:00:55 AM |
| Object: |
USSC spurns new rights for church groups |
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scotus2oct02,0,7976267.story?coll=la-home-center
High court spurns new rights for church groups
Justices rebuff a quest for services in a library, along with a Catholic
group's effort to avoid paying for employees' birth control.
By David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 2, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to expand the rights of
church groups, turning down appeals in a pair of cases.
In the first case, the justices declined to hear a free-speech claim from
an evangelical minister in Northern California who wanted to hold worship
services in a public library meeting room. In the second, they refused to
hear a freedom-of-religion claim from Catholic Charities in New York, which
objected to a state law requiring that employees' prescription drug
coverage include contraceptives. The cases were on a long list dismissed on
opening day of the court's term.
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In the past, the high court has said public officials may not discriminate
against "religious speech" by, for example, excluding a church group from
meeting in the evening at a high school auditorium that is open to other
community organizations.
Lawyers for the Alliance Defense Fund, the Christian Legal Society and the
National Assn. of Evangelicals had urged the court to go a step further and
rule that officials may not exclude "religious services" from public
buildings. They called it unconstitutional to distinguish between "speech"
and "services."
They backed an appeal filed by Pastor Hattie Hopkins, who wanted to hold
prayer and worship services in a meeting room in a public library in
Antioch, northeast of Oakland.
"Religious worship is not a second-class form of expression that the
government may ban from a forum generally open for indistinguishable
'secular' expression," said lawyers for Hopkins and the Faith Center Church
Evangelistic Ministries.
The issue split the federal courts in California. A judge ruled the library
must open its meeting room to Hopkins, but a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals disagreed, 2-1.
The 1st Amendment does not require that the library be "transformed into an
occasional house of worship," said Judge Richard A. Paez of Los Angeles, a
Clinton appointee. There is a difference between "religious speech" and a
"sermon," another judge said.
The full 9th Circuit refused to rehear the case, but seven of its judges
filed a dissent. The ruling against Hopkins "turned a blind eye to blatant
viewpoint discrimination" by singling out "what it calls 'mere religious
worship' for exclusion," wrote Judge Jay S. Bybee, a Bush appointee.
By turning down the appeal, the Supreme Court let stand the 9th Circuit
panel's decision.
In the New York case, lawyers for the plaintiff said Catholic Charities
should not be forced "to finance conduct that the church teaches is
sinful."
Besides New York, more than 20 states (including California) have laws that
require employers to include contraceptives in drug coverage. Though
churches themselves are exempt from the laws, the exemption does not extend
to church-related groups.
"If the state can compel church entities to subsidize contraceptives in
violation of their religious beliefs, it can compel them to subsidize
abortions as well," the lawyers argued.
The justices turned down a similar challenge to California's
prescription-drug law in 2004.
***************************************************************
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 · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
***************************************************************
.. . . 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)
.. . .
****************************************************************
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.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
.
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| User: "Part_Time_Troll" |
|
| Title: Re: USSC spurns new rights for church groups |
02 Oct 2007 06:41:59 AM |
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02 Oct 2007,buckeye-elo@nospam.net in
news:jm54g39dmpj8vpr2qmn51jhkro3e8dtmok@4ax.com:
They called it unconstitutional to distinguish between "speech"
and "services."
They backed an appeal filed by Pastor Hattie Hopkins, who wanted
to hold prayer and worship services in a meeting room in a public
library in Antioch, northeast of Oakland.
"Religious worship is not a second-class form of expression that
the
government may ban from a forum generally open for
indistinguishable 'secular' expression," said lawyers for Hopkins
and the Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries.
yeah, as they'd also argue for the equal rights of their local nambla republicans to
hold meetings in publicly funded open access facilities.
--
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Americans+%7C++Blastocyst-American
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q=Jason+Drake+Gonzalez+Georgia+GOP&scoring=d&
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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
file=/chronicle/archive/2005/04/08/DDG27BCFLG1.DTL
http://www.groupnewsblog.net/2007/07/take-number-yallall-54337-of-you.html
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