Posted on 08/19/2008 6:41:23 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
San Francisco calls the Catholic Church's teachings hateful, defamatory and insensitive.
The liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether a scathing anti-Catholic resolution from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is unconstitutional.
The resolution, passed unanimously in 2006, accused the Vatican of operating as a "foreign country" and called the Church's teachings "hateful," "defamatory," "insensitive," "ignorant" and "insulting to all San Franciscans." It was issued in response to the Church's requirement that adoptive children be brought up by families with a mom and dad.
"Theyre condemning the Catholic Church as 'hateful' and 'harmful,' and that is clearly a violation of constitutional law, where no government entity is to be hostile to any particular religion," said Brian Rooney, an attorney with the Thomas More Law Center, who represented the Church in court this week.
Susan Fani, director of communications at the Catholic League, called the resolution a scare tactic that had to be challenged.
So many times were told the Church needs to butt out of the state," she said, "but here we have a perfect situation of what the First Amendment is addressing.
Our goal is that they dont do this again, that they learn to step back and not overstep their authority.
Around the same time, the San Francisco board also voted to banish 25,000 evangelical teens who had gathered in the city to pray.
Soddom and Go...
Never mind, Sodom and Gomorrah were isolated - now we are surrounded!
I would find it hard to care if San Francisco went up in smoke. It is like some outpost of the remnants of Sodom and Gomorrah plunked right down in the USA.
you could say the same about the san fran board of supes.
Ironic, considering the name of the city.
Watch the 9th circus take this and make the right decision, then go overboard and make it tougher to go after TROP terrorists.
This time when the earthquake hits, don’t rebuild.
The Church has been persecuted before, and it will be persecuted again. Hopefully the 9th Circus will have a road-to-Damascus experience.
The San Francisco church/state separatists have determined that government must be Godless. Thereby, they establish themselves as the enemy of Christ.
They are the very thing they describe. They are “hateful,” “defamatory,” “insensitive,” “ignorant” and insulting to all religious people. And they are proud of their stupidity.
We need to nuke Slag Fagcisco.
Just a 'small' tactical device mind you. Nothing major, just something to send them a message.
Jesus said, “they hated me before they hated you.”
And, as a Catholic, I'd like to thank them for the honor of the thing. They can condemn us, and, as much as it lies with us, we will try to save them from condemnation.
Being called names by the government of San Francisco is on par to being called names by Iran, North Korea, or the former USSR.
It’s a badge of honor!
The First Amendment has been interpreted in such a way that Government (Federal, State or local) must not endorse any particular religion in any way. Thus, children may not even have a "Christmas Party" at a public school.
The other side of the coin of endorsement is the attack upon a specific religion.
Having Government target a specific religion for censure is a clear violation of not only the Establishment Clause but also the Free Exercise Clause as it subjects members of that religion to Government-sponsored condemnation.
Even the clowns on the Ninth Circuit should be able to rule correctly in this case. If not, it will certainly be overruled by SCOTUS.
Good point. If an official body can’t be for, how can it be against?
That’s right! You know you’re doing the right thing when the City of San Francisco hates you for it.
By the way, isn’t it about time they changed the name of their city? I mean, what church do they think St. Francis belonged to, the Metropolitan Community Church of Assisi?
YES it is unconstitutional.
If the local government is prohibited from permitting a religious display honoring a faith (even privately funded) on public property, then it is ALSO prohibited from using the power of government to condemn a religious tradition.
This is the separation of church and state. The SAME government that cannot establish a State religion, cannot use the power of the State to denounce a religion or slur it (the same was true of the unconstutional use of taxpayer money to pay Serrano for Piss Christ and to pay for the portrait of the Madonna made out of elephant dung to be hung in New York.
San Fran was at one time a very Catholic city, with large populations of Irish, Mexican, Italian, and Portuguese Americans. Those days ended with the “Summer of Love.”
Atheism is the defacto State religion. The no-god god.
Antheism is discriminatory to those of religious faith.
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