Opinion ID: 3037195
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Limitations on the Display of Religious Items

Text: Mr. Berry contends that the Department’s refusal to allow him to display a Bible or a “Happy Birthday Jesus” sign is “viewpont discrimination.” He further suggests that compared to his religious speech “there is even less danger that a mere posting of material with religious content, or the placement of a Bible on the desk of a Department employee will cause a 8 Mr. Berry’s objection that there have not been any client complaints against him is not well taken. He has been prohibited from discussing his religion with clients from the day he accepted his position. Although it appears that Mr. Berry has for the most part abided by that limitation, an unchallenged portion of the Department’s statement of undisputed facts filed in the district court recites: In deposition testimony, Plaintiff has admitted that from time to time he has had religious conversations with, or prayed in the presence of County’s clients. On one occasion, he prayed in the presence of one of his Hispanic clients who first asked him to pray for a family member, and later asked Plaintiff to pray directly with her, which he did. On another occasion, Plaintiff prayed in Spanish for a client who was caught being dishonest, however, he did not believe that the client knew that Plaintiff was praying for him at the time. 4892 BERRY v. DEP’T OF SOCIAL SERVICES reasonable observer to believe that the County has suddenly set up shop as a religious agency.” We hold that the Department’s restrictions on the display of religious items are reasonable under the Pickering balancing test. Our opinion in Tucker is instructive. In Tucker, we first noted that the government “has a greater interest in controlling what materials are posted on its property than it does in controlling the speech of the people who work for it.” Tucker, 97 F.3d at 1214. We also recognized that materials posted on the walls of the corridors of government offices may be interpreted as representing the views of the state. Id. We, nonetheless, struck down an order that prevented the display of religious materials outside employees’ cubicles or offices, when employees were free to post materials on other subjects. In doing so, however, we noted: The state’s strongest argument is that allowing the posting of religious material on the interior space of the building in question would give the appearance of government endorsement of religious messages. Such endorsement would, of course, be unconstitutional. 97 F.3d at 1215 (citing County of Allegheny v. ACLU, 492 U.S. 573, 592-601 (1989)). [5] In Tucker, the public did not have access to the office areas at issue. 97 F.3d at 1212. Here, the very reason for the Department’s restrictions is that clients have access to Mr. Berry’s cubicle and might reasonably interpret the presence of visible religious items as government endorsement of religion. Mr. Berry is not deprived of his Bible. He may keep it in his desk drawer and may read it whenever he does not have a client with him in his cubicle. Displaying the Bible implicitly endorses a religious message and it is precisely that message which the Department reasonably seeks to avoid.9 We con- 9 The Department’s concern that the presence of religious items on public property may give rise to an implied endorsement of religion finds BERRY v. DEP’T OF SOCIAL SERVICES 4893 clude that under the balancing test, the Department’s need to avoid an appearance of endorsement of religion outweighs the curtailment on Mr. Berry’s ability to display religious items in his cubicle, which is frequented by the Department’s clients.