Posted on 06/13/2008 1:17:17 PM PDT by CWWren
An Ohio county public library has closed its meeting rooms to the public rather than allow them to be used by a Christian group.
George and Cathy Vandergriff wanted to host a Crown Financial Ministries "Financial Freedom" workshop in a public meeting room at the Clermont County, Ohio, public library. Tim Chandler, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), says the couple was told that, because the class would be quoting from the Bible, they could not hold it at the library.
"The Supreme Court said, more than 25 years ago, that once you've opened up meeting space, you can't exclude anyone just because they're engaging in religious speech. And, here we are, we're still fighting this battle," Chandler contends.
ADF filed suit against the library on the Vandergriff's behalf. In the overwhelming majority of cases of this type, the government entity will back down after only a letter from attorneys threatening to sue. If not, they almost always give in when the suit is actually filed, which is why the Clermont Library's reaction shocked the ADF attorney.
"The library, in response to the lawsuit, has decided to close the meeting rooms and not allow anybody in the public to use them. So, this is the length that they're going to exclude Christians from being able to use their meeting space," Chandler explains.
ADF attorneys, according to Chandler, are examining their options before responding to the library board's decision. "This is one of the very first times that I've ever seen a government agency go through with actually shutting down a forum and making sure that taxpayers don't have access to the meeting rooms that they're funding, just to make sure that a Christian doesn't come in and quote the Bible in one of those meeting rooms," Chandler adds.
The board's action, Chandler says, creates a strong inference that it is willing to go to almost any lengths to discriminate against Christian speech. In a press release, the attorney describes the action as "about as blatantly un-American and unconstitutional as you can get."
Had it been a gaggle of muslims quoting from the Koran there would have been no problem.
Think I'll drop these folks a line or so.
Fire the board. Problem solved.
Shut down the entire library and refund the taxpayers every penny that has gone toward its operation. If it doesn’t belong to the public then the public shouldn’t be paying for it.
I’m strongly for the separation of church and state, but I don’t see how it even remotely applies here. Any Separation argument they may use is just a cover for them being anti-Christian.
Excellent idea! Can they say, book sale?!! At least the books would then be in the hands of the “public”!
Bingo!
Were this an act of Congress, it would be a clear violation of the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment to the Consitution of the US.
I’d like to hear the other side of the story before passing judgement. There’s no way this will pass legal muster, if the facts are as presented here, unless it’s just a temporary closing of the meeting rooms to the public pending drafting and approval of guidelines as to criteria for who may use them.
My guess is that either 1) “Crown Financial Ministries” is more of a Jim & Tammy Bakker outfit than a serious religious group, and that the library doesn’t want to be hosting groups running financial scams under the guise of religion, and/or 2) They have reason to believe that if they allow this group to use the meeting rooms, there are jihadist-type outfits eager to do the same, who will point to the use by the Christian group when demanding that THEY be allowed to use the meeting rooms. Again, the library’s real objection there wouldn’t be religious, but rather a desire not to have terrorism-promoting groups using the library’s meeting rooms.
The problem is that volunteer library boards are often controlled by leftists, much like school boards.
Here is some information from the story on the Cincinnati Enquirer’s page:
“We regret that this policy change will have the effect of not allowing the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts and other nonprofit groups the ability to use our meeting rooms,” Braun (head of the library board) said.
The 10-branch system’s old policy allowed those groups but prohibited the use of meeting rooms for political, religious or social events.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati last week on behalf of a couple who claimed their First Amendment rights to free speech were violated when they were barred from holding a free financial planning seminar at the Amelia branch because they intended to quote from the Bible.
“It’s our belief that suit is moot at this point” because the new policy excludes all groups, Braun said. “Their argument was that any group should be allowed to use the library, whether they be religious, political or of any belief and to any extreme.
“It would have been a lot better if the complainants had simply contacted the library board to discuss their concerns instead of filing a lawsuit,” Braun said. “Any time a group contacts the library board with a concern of any nature, we address it.”
Braun declined to discuss whether the cost of having attorneys defend the old policy in court influenced the board.
Shut down the whole library.
Why should the tax payers pay for something they can not use.
“I’m strongly for the separation of church and state,”
Fine, get a constitutional amendment that actually says that.
“Any Separation argument they may use is just a cover for them being anti-Christian.”
Of course, and for them to exclude an organization because of their messages seems unconstitutional to me.
This is my hometown, really one of the more conservative areas, Jean Schmidts district. Amazing....simply amazing. Funnier still, the whole library is only about 50 sq ft, unless they’ve upgraded in the last few years.
Crown Ministries, founded by Larry Burkett I believe, carried concerns about indebtedness in America, and it’s impact on nuclear families. They are quite respectable, and I always thought their warnings to AVOID credit card problems by limiting the use of the same. Crown Ministries carried some message that often Americans are careless and foolish in their administration of funds, and then go to the gov’t to bail them out and get them solvent.
IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, time has come for the gov’t to stop funding LIBRARIES, now with Amazon, On Line wikipedia, websites, e-books...why pay Librarians to keep the door open for the homeless people who just want to stay warm in the winter? They could turn the libraries into Bunk Houses, charging $2.00 a night and make it a viable business.
I figure that as a public institution they have to treat everyone equally as long as the speech isn't unprotected speech (Muslims calling for the death of infidels, for example). This instance falls in with the separation of church and state, which would not allow the government to discriminate on the basis of religion. Yes, the separation is not meant to suppress Christians as the left has made it, but in part to protect all, including Christians. In fact, Jefferson coined that phrase in the context of protecting a Christian denomination.
A third reason and the most likely reason, is the library board is anti-Christian.
Crown Financial is a God honoring ministry. If only every young person would learn to handle their finances this country would be much better off.
Fine, get a constitutional amendment that actually says that.
Do you think all public buildings should be required to allow use for religious services?
Any time constraints on this?
So its sorry folks, we can't have a trial today, because the Islamic Church of Ohio is using our Courtroom for services (at taxpayer expense).
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