Thursday, April 4, 2013
"A Tale of Two Graduations"
Go here to learn more about Doe v. Elmbrook, an interesting new cases being handled by the good folks at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The en banc CTA7 ruled that it was unconstitutional for a school district to hold graduation events in a church auditorium -- which was selected because it was an appropriate and cost-effective venue (objectively better than the school gym) -- because "the sheer religiosity of the space created a likelihood that high school students and their younger siblings would perceive . . . a message of endorsement" and because using church space in this way was "religiously coercive." One of the dissenters, though, Judge Easterbrook, noted that the “only message a reasonable observer would perceive is that comfortable space is preferable to cramped, overheated space. * * * No reasonable observer believes that renting an auditorium for a day endorses the way the landlord uses that space the other 364 days.”
Stay tuned!
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2013/04/a-tale-of-two-graduations.html
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I would think that J. Easterbrook knows that a religious message is not just any message; it’s one of only a few messages that the Constitution forbids the government to become involved with. Whatever message a purely commercial venue might imply, a religious message in relation to a governmental event is a different thing; and something to be avoided. A school gymnasium might be less comfortable, but Religious Freedom ain’t free.
sean s.