Court Opinion

ID: 9741318
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:53:17.104682+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:23.399680
License: Public Domain

Liacos, C.J.
(concurring). I agree with the result reached by the court today. I agree also with the court’s analysis of the protections provided the people of this Commonwealth *335under art. 46, § 1, of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution, including the court’s statement that under art. 46, “we prefer to adhere to the standards of earlier First Amendment jurisprudence, such as we applied in Alberts v. Devine, 395 Mass. 59, 74-75, cert, denied sub nom. Carroll v. Alberts, 474 U.S. 1013 (1985), and Attorney Gen. v. Bailey, 386 Mass. 367, 375, cert, denied sub nom. Bailey v. Bellotti, 459 U.S. 970 (1982).” Ante at 321. Our Constitution precedes and was, in large measure, the model for the Federal Constitution. In light of this court’s reaffirmation today of its desire to develop further our own constitutional jurisprudence, I cannot but wonder why the court and the dissenting Justices decline to examine more thoroughly the protections afforded by art. 2 of the Declaration of Rights of the Massachusetts Constitution and are unwilling to decide whether art. 2 reaches the activities of the defendants. Thus, I write separately to express my view on the scope of the protection afforded by art. 2.
In declining to address whether art. 2 reaches the conduct of the defendants, the court reasons that “[ajrticle 2 is important to this case only if it grants greater protection to the defendants than do either the First Amendment or the cognate free exercise of religion provision appearing in art. 46 . . . .” Ante at 322. This reasoning puzzles me, as it is unclear to me why art. 46 should be the starting point in an analysis of our Constitution’s protections for religious freedom. As the court notes, conduct falling within the scope of art. 2 and which does “not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship” is protected absolutely. Opinion of the Justices, 214 Mass. 599, 601 (1913). Nicholls v. Mayor & Sch. Comm. of Lynn, 297 Mass. 65, 70-71 (1937). Society of Jesus of New England v. Boston Landmarks Comm’n, 409 Mass. 38, 41-42 (1990). Accordingly, if the conduct of the defendants falls within art. 2’s scope and neither disturbs the public peace nor disturbs the religious worship of others, then the conduct would be protected absolutely.
*336Article 2 of the Declaration of Rights provides that “no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping GOD in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience, or for his religious profession or sentiments', provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship” (emphasis supplied).1 The language of art. 2 does not limit the mode or manner of worship to commonly recognized forms of worship.2 On the contrary, the language, “in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of [an individual’s] conscience” unambiguously indicates that a *337citizen is free to decide for himself or herself the method by which he or she will worship.3
Our case law supports the notion that this court should not attempt to decide whether a form of worship chosen by an individual based on his sincere religious beliefs is deserving of art. 2 protection. Under art. 2, all citizens are guaranteed “liberty unrestrained as to religious practices, subject only to the conditions that the public peace must not be disturbed nor others obstructed in their religious worship or the general obligations of good citizenship violated.” Opinion of the Justices, 214 Mass. 599, 601 (1913). Nicholls v. Mayor & Sch. Comm. of Lynn, 297 Mass. 65, 70 (1937). Society of Jesus of New England v. Boston Landmarks Comm’n, 409 Mass. 38, 41 (1990). Commonwealth v. Nissenbaum, 404 Mass. 575, 591 (1989) (Liacos, J., dissenting). See Nissenbaum, supra at 582 n.5 (“Any person may worship in the manner he thinks most agreeable to the Deity”), quoting The Popular Sources of Political Authority, Documents of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, at 32-33 (O. and M. Handlin, eds. 1966); Society of Jesus, supra at 41 (“The framers and ratifiers understood the right freely to exercise one’s religion to be an uncompromising principle”); id. at 41-42 (“great object . . . was ‘to secure and establish the most perfect and entire freedom of opinion, as to tenets of religion, and as to the choice of the mode of worship’ ”), quoting Adams v. Howe, 14 Mass. 340, 346 (1817).
The decision by an individual as to what form of religious worship constitutes an appropriate vehicle by which to pay homage to a chosen object of that worship can hardly be characterized as anything but a religious belief or sentiment, for it is religious belief which informs, and serves as the *338foundation for, that choice. Accordingly, if this or any court purports to consider whether a practice is truly a form of worship, then in essence the court is inquiring into the validity of a religious belief. No civil court, however, may make such an inquiry. Murphy v. I.S.K.Con. of New England, Inc., 409 Mass. 842, 854, cert, denied, 502 U.S. 865 (1991), quoting Madsen v. Erwin, 395 Mass. 715, 722 (1985). Lewis v. Area II Homecare for Senior Citizens, Inc., 397 Mass. 761, 772 (1986). Alberts v. Devine, 395 Mass. 59, 72 (1985), and cases cited. See Norwood Hosp. v. Munoz, 409 Mass. 116, 124-125 n.5 (1991).4
The court states that this case does not involve “any restraint on the defendants’ religious professions or sentiments” and therefore, the court concludes, art. 2’s protection of “religious profession or sentiments” is not implicated in this case. Ante at 332. The court gives no reason for this conclusion. Thus, the court continues, if art. 2 is applicable at all, only the provision of art. 2 which protects “worshipping” is called into play in this case. I cannot agree. Contrary to the court’s conclusion, which implicitly defines “religious profession or sentiments,” I believe that, in the circumstances of this case, the protection in art. 2 for “religious profession or sentiments” is relevant here.5 While the defendants have ad*339mitted that they in fact have refused in the past to rent to unmarried, cohabiting couples and would have refused to rent to Lattanzi and Tarail, assuming that they would have cohabited, the event immediately precipitating this action was one telephone call made by Tarail.6 The content of the conversation which took place was disputed, but the judge found that Paul Desilets imparted to Tarail that he would not rent to unmarried cohabiters because to do so violated his religion. The conversation then ended without Tarail pressing the matter further.
As I see it, then, the action of the defendant on which this suit was founded was his profession of his religious belief that cohabitation of unmarried persons is a sin.7 Therefore, the facts of this case also implicate the protection afforded to the defendants’ “religious profession or sentiments.” I would not dispose of this issue, as the court does without analysis, ante at 332, by reciting that the protection in art. 2 for religious profession or sentiments is not involved in this case.
In my opinion art. 2 covers the actions of the defendants. As a result, their conduct is deserving of art. 2 protection unless it disturbs the public peace. See Commonwealth v. Orlando, 371 Mass. 732, 734-735 (1977) (disturbance of *340public peace occurs when conduct “tends to annoy all good citizens and does in fact annoy anyone present not favoring it”); Nissenbaum, supra at 592 (Liacos, J., dissenting) (conduct disturbs public peace when it is unreasonably disruptive, and second, did in fact infringe someone’s right to be undisturbed). Although the judge found that there was no disturbance of the public peace, it does not seem to me that the issue was addressed completely by the parties below. I would remand this case for further proceedings and a determination whether the defendants’ actions disturbed the public peace. See Nissenbaum, supra at 591-593 (Liacos, J., dissenting).8 If the judge determines that the defendants’ conduct did disturb the public peace,9 the judge should then balance the State’s interest in maintaining the public peace which was disturbed against the defendants’ rights under art. 2. Id. at 581-583 (court notes that balancing of competing interests is required under art. 2 when disturbance of public peace is found, and court then notes that it performed such a balancing in that case).

The full text of art. 2 provides: “It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons to worship the SUPREME BEING, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping GOD in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience, or for his religious profession or sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship.”

The author of the court’s opinion wrote separately in Commonwealth v. Nissenbaum, 404 Mass. 575, 584 n.l (1989) (Wilkins, J., concurring), that “conduct protected by art. 2 must be conduct commonly regarded as religious conduct.” I note that this statement in Justice Wilkins’s concurrence in Nissenbaum was made despite his position that the constitutional issues in that case need not be addressed, Nissenbaum, supra at 588 n.l (Liacos, J., dissenting), and was made without citation of authority for that proposition. Id. at 584 n.l (Wilkins, J., concurring).
I cannot agree that particular conduct will not be recognized as worship by this court merely because that conduct is not within the conception of worship espoused by a majority of the Justices of this court, past or present. Nor can I agree that conduct must be “commonly regarded as religious conduct” for it to fall within the scope and protection of art. 2 (emphasis supplied). These propositions suggest that only those forms of worship that are acceptable in the opinion of the majority of society will receive consideration under art. 2. In my view, these propositions are contrary to the essence of art. 2, as shown in both the plain language of that provision and in our case law interpreting it.
I do not suggest that an individual may assert any conduct as worship and then be permitted to practice that conduct unchecked. Article 2 itself prohibits an individual from “disturbing] the public peace, or obstructing] others in their religious worship.” Furthermore, an individual must believe sincerely that his conduct is worship, and a court permissibly may examine the sincerity of that belief. See United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 781 (1944).

The dictionary definition of “worship” lends to this argument. The verb “worship” means “to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power” or “to perform . . . worship.” The noun “worship” means the “reverence or veneration tendered a divine being or supernatural power.” Webster’s Third New Int’l Dictionary 2637 (1993). Thus, an act of worship could be any act by which a person, in his belief, shows honor or reverence to the object of his worship.

Furthermore, it is not relevant whether the belief is shared by an organized sect or church, or, for that matter, by any other person. See Kolodziej v. Smith, 412 Mass. 215, 220 (1992).
Although the court in Nicholls v. Mayor & Sch. Comm. of Lynn, 297 Mass. 65, 70 (1937), noted that the State Constitution “guarantees ‘absolute freedom as to religious belief and liberty unrestrained as to religious practice,’ ” it went on to conclude that requiring the plaintiff to recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag did not violate that plaintiff’s religious freedom even though his religious beliefs required that he not salute the flag. Id. at 71-73. The court, in effect, interpreted the meaning of the plaintiff’s religious beliefs. I doubt whether the inquiry performed by the court in Nicholls would be permissible today, and in any event, I do not agree with the court’s conclusion in that case.

This court has not had occasion to discuss the meaning of the terms “profession” or “sentiment” as used in art. 2. The common meanings of those words are instructive, however. “Profession,” in the sense it is used in art. 2, is “an act of openly declaring or publicly claiming a belief, faith, or opinion; an avowed statement or expression of intention or purpose.” Web*339ster’s Third New Int’l Dictionary 1811 (1993). A “sentiment” is “an attitude, thought, or judgment permeated or prompted by feeling” or “a specific view or notion.” Id. at 2069. Under the plain meaning of these words, it is clear that, in the telephone conversation giving rise to this action, the defendant professed his religious sentiment.

The record suggests that Lattanzi also may have contacted one of the defendants or the wife of one of the defendants to inquire about an apartment and was told of the policy against renting to unmarried, cohabiting couples.

It is unfortunate that the court unnecessarily reaches out in dictum, to describe G. L. c. 272, § 18 (1992 ed.), which makes fornication a crime, as being a statute of “doubtful constitutionality.” Ante at 328-329. Similar claims of unconstitutionality were made — and rejected — as to the crime of adultery (G. L. c. 272, § 14). See Commonwealth v. Stowell, 389 Mass. 171, 173 (1983). Stowell is an opinion in which the author of the court’s opinion in the case at bar joined. One need not address the constitutional issue as to G. L. c. 272, § 18, to conclude that the Legislature has expressed a public policy which the defendants, for religious reasons, share.

On this record, I could not conclude that the public peace was disturbed merely because a statute allegedly was violated. See Nissenbaum, supra at 591-593 (Liacos, J., dissenting). More importantly, the court’s suggestion that the public peace was disturbed by virtue of a violation of a State statute is based on faulty logic. Our inquiry is whether the application of the statute in this case violates the religious rights of the defendants. If their rights would be violated unconstitutionally by application of the statute to their conduct, then the statute could not be applied to their conduct and, as a result, there would be no violation of the statute which could be the basis for finding a disturbance of the public peace. The underlying conduct, however, could be examined in the manner I outlined, id. at 592.

There is nothing at all in the record which would suggest that the defendants’ conduct interfered with someone else’s worship.