From: norris@athena.mit.edu (Richard A Chonak)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Another religious freedom case
Date: 21 Aug 92 04:42:52 GMT
Organization: l'organisation, c'est moi.

Here's an article about a religious-freedom case, from the newsletter of
"Free Speech Advocates" (August 1992):

Church Asks High Court for Relief Against Censorship 

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- May a public school district permit private groups to 
use its facilities after school for social, civic, and recreational purposes, 
but forbid any use "for religious purposes"?  That is the question Free Speech
Advocates has asked the Supreme Court to consider in the case of Lamb's Chapel
v. Center Moriches Union Free School District.

The Center Moriches School District, in Suffolk County, New York, lets local 
residents use school classrooms, auditoriums, cafeterias, and other facilities,
during non-school hours, for outside activities.  Among the organizations that
have conducted meetings or put on cultural displays, concerts, and other
activities in Center Moriches facilities are a humane society, dance groups, 
boy and girl scouts, a boating club, and a chamber of commerce.

Center Moriches, however, forbids use of school premises "by any group for 
religious purposes."

John Steigerwald, pastor of a local church (Lamb's Chapel), requested 
permission to use school facilities to show a film series about contemporary
family issues.  The series featured Dr. James Dobson, a prominent, pro-life,
Christian author and president of Focus on the Family.  A school official 
responded by referring to the ban on "religious purposes" and requesting more
information about the film series.  "I am hard pressed to determine," the 
school official wrote, "what the five-part movie would represent, but suspect 
that it would certainly have religious connotations."

Pastor Steigerwald sent a brochure describing the Dr. Dobson film series.  The
school official, after reviewing the brochure, replied that the film "does 
appear to be church related and therefore your request must be refused."

Steigerwald and Lamb's Chapel filed a federal civil rights suit against the
school district, charging that the district's discrimination against religious
speech was unconstitutional.

A federal court in New York ruled in favor of the school district.  Lamb's 
Chapel appealed, but the federal appeals court upheld the exclusionary policy.

Free Speech Advocates attorneys then prepared to take Lamb's Chapel's case to 
the Supreme Court.

In a petition for review filed on June 16, FSA attorneys attack the school 
district policy as "blatant government censorship of private religious speech."

	If this *same* entity (Lamb's Chapel) sought to address the *same*
	topic (contemporary family issues) through the *same* medium (a film
	series), with the single difference that the film omitted all 
	references to a religious perspective, Center Moriches would have no 
	objection to the use of its facilities under the same terms as any 
	other use by outside groups.  But because the film includes a religious
	point of view, Center Moriches has refused permission to show the film.

FSA attorneys point out that two other federal appeals courts have struck down
virtually identical policies of religious censorship in public school 
facilities.

"This is religious apartheid," said FSA attorney Walter M. Weber, who drafted 
the petition for Supreme Court review.  "Any local group can reserve school 
facilities to hold a meeting or lecture on the hot topics of the day.  But if a
group tries to confront these important subjects from a religious perspective,
Center Moriches slams the door.  You'd think this was the old Soviet Union."

The Supreme Court is expected to announce in October whether it will hear the
Lamb's Chapel case.
---
"Free Speech Advocates" is a non-profit organization of Catholic attorneys 
defending the free-speech and religious-liberty rights of Christians and 
pro-lifers.  Their address is 3050 Gap Knob Rd, New Hope KY  40052-6927
---
Richard Chonak, norris@athena.mit.edu